
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS— BULLETIN NO. 125. 



C. TRUE, Director. 



A DIGEST 



OF 



EXPERIMENTS ON HORSE FEEDING. 



BY 



C. F. LAjSTl ~f\V< >T-?TIIV, T J h. T>. 

OFWU E OK EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



ssssssr^ 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
19 8 . 




Gass SF? fr& 
Book, . s L% _ 



<* ^J 



U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS— BULLETIN NO. 125. 

. C. TRUE, Director. 



A DIGEST 



L. *» 




BY 



Orr." LANG-WORTIIY, Ph. 33. 
w 

Office of Experiment Station-. 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTIXQ .QFFJCE. 

I'.'o.s. : j*:j.\ 






OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 

A. C. True, Ph. D.— Director. 

E. W. Allen, Ph. D. — Assistant Director and Editor of Experiment Station Record. 

W. H. Beal — Chief of Editorial Division. 

C. E. Johnston — Chief Clerk. 

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENTS. 

E. W. Allen, Ph. D., and H. W. Lawson — Chemistry, Dairy Farming, and Dairying. 

W. H. Beal — Agricultural Physics and Engineering. 

Walter H. Evans, Ph. D. — Botany and Diseases of Plants. 

C. F. Langworthy, Ph. D. — Foods and Animal Production. 

J. I. Schulte — Field Crops. 

E. V. Wilcox, Ph. D. — Entomology and Veterinary Science. 

C. B. Smith — Horticulture. 

D. J. Crosby— Agricultural Institutions. 

2 



or 








LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

Office of Experiment Stations, 
Washington, D. C. , January 29, 1903. 

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a bulletin prepared by 
C. F. Langworthy, Ph. D., of the Office of Experiment Stations, which 
summarizes and discusses the results of experiments on the feeding 
and care of horses, and especially the investigations of recent years. 
The attempt has been made to include all the work which has been 
carried on at the experiment stations in the United States as well as 
some of the more important foreign investigations. Statistics were also 
gathered regarding the rations fed horses used by express companies, 
cab companies, fire departments, packing houses, breweries, etc., in 
different regions of the United States, with a view to learning the nutri- 
ents supplied to horses performing different amounts of work. The 
data have been compared with similar values for horses fed at a num- 
ber of the experiment stations under more or less definitely known 
conditions. The rations fed army horses in this and other countries, 
the horses of French and other cab companies, etc., have also been 
included for purposes of comparison. 

Thanks are due to Director W. A. Henry of the Wisconsin Station, 
Director H. J. Patterson of the Maryland Station, and Mr. G. M. Rom- 
mel of the Bureau of Animal Industry of this Department, for valu- 
able suggestions, and to Mr. H. A. Pratt of the Department of the 
Interior, for assistance in making the calculations involved in preparing 
the material. 

Believing that the bulletin will prove a useful summary of the infor- 
mation at present available regarding the feeding of horses, I recom- 
mend that it be published as Bulletin No. 125 of this Office. 

Respectfully, A. C. True, 

Directm\ 

Hon. James Wilson, 

Sec?'etaj i y of Agriculture. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Introduction 7 

Principles of nutrition 9 

Composition of feeding stuffs 12 

Comparative value of feeding stuffs 15 

Cereal grains 15 

Leguminous seeds 20 

Oil cakes and other commercial by-products 20 

Forage crops, fresh and cured 22 

Eoots and tubers : 27 

Molasses and other by-products of sugar making 28 

Fruits, fresh and dried 31 

Injurious feeding stuffs . 32 

Method of feeding 33 

Cooked and raw feed 34 

Dry and soaked feed 34 

Ground and unground feed 34 

Cut and uncut coarse fodder 35 

Cost of a ration 36 

Fattening horses for market 36 

Watering horses 37 

Digestibility of feeding stuffs 40 

Comparative digestibility by horses and ruminants 44 

Rations actually fed and feeding standards 46 

Method of calculating rations 58 

Muscular work and its effect on food requirements 59 

Measuring muscular work 59 

Muscular work in its relation to the ration 62 

Effect of muscular work on digestibility 65 

Metabolism experiments and the deductions drawn from them 66 

Measuring the respiratory quotient and the deductions drawn from it 67 

Proportion of energy of food expended for internal and external muscular 

work 68 

Energy required to chew and digest food 69 

' ' True nutritive value ' ' of feeding stuffs 69 

Fixing rations on the basis of internal and external muscular work 71 

Summary 73 

5 



RECENT EXPERIMENTS IN HORSE FEEDING. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The scientific study of different problems connected with the feeding 
of farm animals has been followed for something over half a century. 
Some of the very early work was with horses, but more generally it 
was carried on with other domestic animals. Within the last few years 
this phase of the problem has received much more attention, and feed- 
ing tests, digestion experiments, and more complicated investigations 
have accumulated in considerable numbers. The bulk of this work 
has been carried on in France and Germany; a creditable amount, 
however, has been done in this country, notably by the agricultural 
experiment stations, and the results of these experiments and obser- 
vations have been published from time to time, and are very useful. 
Mention must be made also of the work of practical feeders, which is 
of great value. 

In the present bulletin the attempt is made to bring together some 
of the more important results and deductions which may be gathered 
from the American and foreign experimental work, especiall} 7 that of 
recent years. It is not the purpose to provide practical feeders with 
directions for feeding according to a particular formula; indeed this 
is not necessary, if it were possible, for practical feeders understand 
the needs of their horses and how to meet them. The object is rather 
to summarize matter which seems interesting and valuable, and which 
in many cases may give the reason for something of which the wisdom 
has long been recognized in practice. 

In addition to the bulletins, reports, and other works cited in the 
following pages, a large number of scientific and popular journals, 
treatises on horse feeding, and similar publications have been consulted, 
as well as reports issued b} T American and foreign experiment stations. 

That a scientific study of the feeding of horses may not be without 
direct practical value is shown by the work of Grandeau, Leclerc, Lava- 
lard, and others for the Paris Cab and 'Bus companies. By means of 
experimental studies of the food value and digestibility of different 
feeding stuffs, carried on under definite conditions, it was possible to 
so modif} 7 the ration fed to the thousands of horses belonging to one 
of these companies that an annual saving of 1,000,000 francs or over 
was effected, while at the same time the health and strength of the 

7 



8 

horses were maintained at the usual standard. This was accomplished 
in the instance cited by demonstrating- the value of Indian corn, against 
which there was a prejudice in France, and substituting it in part for 
oats. 

The returns from scientific studies are not always so immediate, but 
the results are usually of use when the experiments have been well 
planned and carried out. 

The problem of horse feeding is one which each feeder solves more 
or less for himself, the opinion regarding what is and what is not sat- 
isfactory feed varying more or less with the time and place. Opinions 
may differ as to the value of this food or that, but it is evident that 
the actual food requirements of a horse performing a given amount of 
work can not vary as a result of a change of opinion on the feeder's 
part. With horses, as with all animals, including man, the real prob- 
lem is to suppl} 7 sufficient nutritive material for building and repairing 
the body and furnishing it with the energy necessary for performing 
work, whether it be that which goes on inside the bod}^ (the beating 
of the heart, respiratory movements, etc.), or the work which is per- 
formed outside the body (hauling a load, etc.). The body temperature 
must also be maintained at the expense of the fuel ingredients, but 
whether material is burned in the body primarily for this purpose, or 
whether the necessary heat is a resultant of the internal muscular 
work, is not known with certainty. 

The problem of successfully feeding horses differs somewhat from 
that encountered in feeding most domestic animals. Cattle, sheep, 
and pigs are fed to induce gains in weight, i. e. , to fatten them, or in 
the case of milch cows to produce gains in the form of a body secre- 
tion (milk) rather than as fat in the body. In a similar way sheep 
are fed for the production of wool, and poultry for the production of 
eggs. Sometimes cattle are also fed as beasts of burden. Horses are 
fed almost universally as beasts of burden, whether the work consists 
in carrying a rider or drawing a load. 

Mares with foal require food for the development of their young, 
.and after birth the colt needs it for the growth and development of 
the body as well as for maintenance. Such demands for nutritive 
material are common to all classes of animals. Sometimes horses are 
fed to increase their weight; that is, to improve their condition. For 
instance, animals are often fattened by horse dealers before they are 
sold. However, generally speaking, the problem in horse feeding is 
to supply sufficient nutritive material for the production of the work 
required and at the same time to maintain the body weight. The 
almost universal experience of practical horse feeders, and the results 
of many carefully planned experiments, agree that there is no surer 
test of the fitness of any given ration than that it enables the horse 
fed to maintain a constant weight. If the animal loses weight it 



9 

is evident that the ration is insufficient, while if gains in weight are 
made and the animal becomes fat it is evident that more feed is given 
than is necessary. Provided the horse is in good condition, it is seldom 
desirable to induce any considerable gain in weight. Reference is not 
made to the small daily fluctuations in weight, but to gains or losses 
which extend over a considerable period. The most satisfactory ration 
must necessarily be made up of materials which are wholesome and 
are relished by the horse. It should also be reasonable in cost. It 
must be abundant enough to meet all body requirements, but not so 
abundant that the horse lays on an undesirable amount of flesh. 

PRINCIPLES OF NUTRITION. 

The foundation principles of nutrition are the same in the case of all 
animals, including man. A brief discussion of the properties of food 
and the general laws of nutrition follows. 

The study of foods and feeding stuffs has shown that although they 
differ so much in texture and appearance they are in reality made up 
of a small number of chemical constituents, namely, protein, fat, car- 
bohydrates, and ash, together with a larger or smaller amount of 
water. The latter can be often seen, as in the juice of fresh plants. 
In dry hay no water or juice is visible. A small amount is, however, 
contained in minute particles in the plant tissues. 

Protein is a name given to the total group of nitrogenous materials 
present. The group is made up mainly of the true proteids and 
albumens, such as the gluten of wheat, and of nitrogenous materials 
such as amids, which are believed to have a lower feeding value than 
the albumens. 

The group "fat" includes the true vegetable fats and oils, like the oil 
in cotton seed or corn, as well as vegetable wax, some chlorophyl (the 
green coloring matter in leaves, etc.), and other coloring matters; in 
brief, all the materials which are extracted by ether in the usual labo- 
ratory method of estimating fat. The name "ether extract" is often 
and very properly applied to this group. Chemically considered, the 
true fats are glycerids of the fatty acids, chiefly- oleic, stearic, and 
palmitic. 

The group " carbohydrates " includes starches, sugars, crude fiber, 
cellulose, pentosans, and other bodies of a similar chemical struc- 
ture. This group is usually subdivided, according to the analytical 
methods followed in estimating it, into "nitrogen-free extract" and 
"crude fiber;" the former subdivision including principally sugar, 
starches, and most of the pentosans, and the latter cellulose, lignin, 
and other woody substances which very largely make up the rigid struc- 
ture of plants. 

The proteids contain nitrogen in addition to carbon, oxygen, hydro- 
gen, and a little phosphorus and sulphur. The fats consist of carbon, 



10 

oxygen, and hydrogen, as do also carbohydrates. In the carbolry- 
drates, however, the oxygen and hydrogen are always present in 
the proportions in which they occur in water, namely, two atoms of 
hydrogen to one of oxygen. 

The group "mineral matter " includes the inorganic bodies present 
in the form of salts in the juices and tissue of the different feeding 
stuffs, the principal chemical elements found being sodium, potassium, 
calcium, chlorin. ffuorin, phosphorus, and sulphur. The term "ash" 
is often and very properly used for this group, since the mineral 
matter represents the incombustible portion which remains when any 
given feeding stuff is burned. 

As noted above, the functions of food are (1) to supply material to 
build and repair the body, and (2) to yield energy. The chemical 
composition of a feeding stuff serves as a basis for judging of its value 
for building and repairing body tissue. Its value as a source of energy 
must, however, be learned in another way. The most usual way of 
measuring energy is in terms of heat, the calorie being taken as a unit. 
This is the amount of heat which would raise the temperature of 1 
kilogram of water l c G, or 1 pound of water 4 C F. Instead of this the 
unit of mechanical energy, the foot-ton (the force which would lift 1 
ton 1 foot) may be used, but it is not as convenient. One calorie cor- 
responds very nearly to 1.54 foot-tons. The heat of combustion of 
foods and feeding stuffs is ordinarily determined with the bomb calo- 
rimeter or other suitable devices. The fuel value of any food is equal 
to its heat of combustion less the energy of the excretory products 
derived from it and may be learned by taking into account the chem- 
ical composition of the food or feeding stuff, the proportions of the 
nutrients actually digested and oxidized in the body, and the propor- 
tion of the whole latent energy of each which becomes active and use- 
ful to the body for warmth and work. However, the fuel value may 
be and often is calculated from the composition of the food material 
supplied, since it has been found that 1 gram of protein furnishes -i.l 
calories, 1 gram fat 9.3 calories, and 1 gram carbohydrates 4.1 calo- 
ries, or 1 pound protein 1,860 calories. 1 pound fat 4,220 calories, and 
1 pound carbohydrates 1,860 calories/' 

The relation between the quantities of nitrogenous and nitrogen-free 
nutrients in the ration is called the nutritive or nutrient ratio. In cal- 
culating this ratio 1 pound of fat is taken as equivalent to 2.25 pounds 
of carbohydrates — this being' approximately the ratio of their fuel 

a These values, which have been often used in the past, are known to be unsatis- 
factory, but are retained because better and more generally accepted data, obtained 
in experiments with, animals, are not available. 

In discussions relating to human food later and more accurate values have been 
proposed, namely, 1,820 calories per pound for protein and carbohydrates and 4,040 
calories per pound for fats. 



11 

values — so that the nutritive ratio is actually that of the protein to the 
carbohydrates plus 2.25 times the fat. 

The body is necessarily made up of the same chemical element- as 
occur in food. Nitrogen is the characteristic element of body tissue and 
fluids. Carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen are also present, as well as the 
elements making up the various mineral matters of the body. Protein 
is the only nutrient which contains nitrogen, therefore this nutrient is 
essential for building and repairing body tissues. The carbon, oxy- 
gen, and hydrogen may be supplied theoretically by protein, fat. or 
carbohydrates; but a well-balanced diet or ration contains all in proper 
proportion. Protein, fat, and carbohydrates may be burned with the 
formation of carbon dioxid and water, and therefore all may serve as 
sources of energy. 

The mineral matter in food is required for a number of different 
purposes, a considerable amount being needed for the formation of 
the skeleton. Some is also present in the organs and tissues. It can 
not. however, be regarded as a source of energy, according to com- 
monly accepted theories, since it can not be burned with the formation 
of carbon dioxid and water. The water present in food is not a 
nutrient in the sense that it serves for building tissue or yielding 
energy, but it is essential, serving to carry the food in the digestive 
processes, to dilute the blood, and for many other physiological pur- 
poses. The oxygen of the air is required by all living animal- for the 
combustion, or oxidation, of the fuel constituents of food. 

When foods are burned in the body. i. e.. oxidized, they give up the 
latent energy present in them. In determining the fuel value of pro- 
tein, due allowance is made for the fact that combustion is not as com- 
plete in the body as in a furnace. In the latter, practically all organic 
materials are burned to carbon dioxid. water, and nitrogen: in the 
body, to carbon dioxid. water, and some cleavage product containing 
nitrogen, such as urea, uric acid, hippuric acid, and similar bodies 
which require further combustion before the free nitrogen is liberated. 
Combustion in a furnace and combustion in the body do not appear to 
be at all similar, but. generally speaking, they are the same from a 
chemical standpoint. The former takes place rapidly with the evolu- 
tion of heat, and usually of light; the latter, more slowly and incon- 
spicuously. If food is likened to fuel and the body to a furnace, the 
respiratory products given off from the lungs correspond to the com- 
bustion products which pass out through the flue. Ashes, in so far as 
they consist of material which will not burn (sand, bits of rock. etc.). 
and bits of coal which do not burn because they fall through the grate, 
or for some similar reason escape combustion, represent the feces (the 
indigestible and accidentally undigested material derived from the food). 
The bits of coal found in the ashes which are partially burned, but 
still contain some material valuable as fuel, correspond to the urea 



12 

and other incompletely oxidized nitrogenous bodies excreted in the 
urine. There is this difference, however, the furnace would have 
completed the combustion of the partly burned bits of coal if they had 
not been shaken out with the ashes, while the bod} r can not burn the 
urea more completely. The body differs from a machine in a number 
of important ways; for instance, it is itself built up of the same mate- 
rials which it utilizes as fuel, and further, if an excess of fuel, i. e., 
food, is supplied, it may be stored as a reserve material for future use, 
generally in the form of fat or glycogen. 

The amount of work performed by a horse, for convenience in meas- 
urement, may be resolved into several factors, as follows: (1) The 
energy expended in chewing, swallowing, and digesting food, keeping 
up the beating of the heart, circulation of the blood, respiratory move- 
ments, and other vital processes \ a (2) the energy which is expended 
in moving the body, walking, trotting, etc., which is usually spoken of 
as energy required for forward progression; and (3) the energy which 
is expended in carrying a rider, as in the case of a saddle horse, or 
drawing a load, as in the case of a draft animal or carriage horse. 

The character of the road, whether level or up or down hill, is an 
important factor in determining the amount of work. It is evident 
that more energy is required to lift the body at each step and move it 
forward when climbing an incline than when walking on a level. In 
the same way, when a load is drawn uphill it must be raised as well 
as drawn forward. 

Work may be measured as foot-pounds or foot-tons, or by any other 
convenient unit. A foot-pound is the amount of energy expended in 
raising 1 pound 1 foot; a foot-ton, that expended in raising 1 ton 1 
foot; a commonly used unit of force is the ""ton power," equivalent 
to 550 foot-pounds per second. Work may also be measured in terms 
of heat, i. e., calories. This is especially convenient in discussing 
problems of nutrition, since the heat of combustion is one of the factors 
usually determined or calculated when foods are analyzed; and further- 
more, the feeding standards which have been proposed for horses and 
other farm animals show the requirements per day in terms of nutri- 
ents and energy. One calorie corresponds, as stated above, very 
nearly to 1.54 foot-tons. 

COMPOSITION OF FEEDING STUFFS. 

The feeding stuffs of most importance for horses are cereal grains, 
such as oats and corn, either ground or unground; leguminous seeds, 
as beans and peas; cakes, and other commercial by-products, as oil- 

« The heat of the body is closely connected with this kind of work, and may be 
derived either from the combustion of material directly for that purpose, or may be 
the result of the energy liberated when internal muscular work is performed, or 
may be due to both causes acting together. 



13 

cake, gluten feed, and so on; fodder crops, green or cured; and differ- 
ent roots, tubers, and green vegetables. In quite recent times cane 
molasses, beet molasses, and other beet-sugar by-products, have 
assumed more or less importance in this connection. The composition 
of a number of these different feeding stuffs ma} T be seen by reference 
to the table below, which shows the average composition as determined 
by analysis, and when possible the digestible nutrients furnished for 
horses by each 100 pounds of the feeding stuffs, the latter data having 
been calculated, as explained elsewhere (p. 40), by the aid of figures 
obtained in digestion experiments with horses. In a number of cases 
such calculations have not been made, for the reason that experiments 
showing the digestibility of feeding stuffs had not been found, nor were 
results of experiments made with similar feeding stuffs available. The 
comparatively large number of feeding stuffs of which the digesti- 
bility has not been determined indicates one of the lines of work which 
might be profitably followed. 

Table 1. — Average composition of a number of feeding stuffs. 





Percentage composition. 


Digestible materials in 
100 pounds. 


En- 
ergy 


Kind of food 
material. 


Water. 


Pro- 
tein. 


Fat. 


Nitro- 
gen- 
free 
ex- 
tract. 


Crude 
fiber. 


Ash. 


Pro- 
tein. 


Fat. 


Nitro- 
gen- 
free 
ex- 
tract. 


Crude 
fiber. 


lbs. di- 
gesti- 
ble 
nutri- 
ents. 


GREEN FODDER. 

Com fodder 


Perct. 

79.3 
66.2 
76.1 
73.0 
76.6 
62. 2 
77.3 
65. 3 

69. 5 

73.0 

69.9 

73.2 

61.6 

65.1 
71.1 

70.8 

74.8 
80.9 

71.8 
83. 6 
75.1 

71.4 
76.1 
72.0 
74.2 
79.3 


Perct. 
1.8 
2.1 

.5 
2.3 
2.6 
3.4 

2.3 
2.8 

2.4 

2.6 

2.4 

3.1 

3.1 

1.1 
3.1 

4.4 

3.9 
3.1 

4.8 
2.4 
4.0 

2.2 
.8 
4.2 
4.1 
2.7 


Perct. 

0.5 

1.1 

.5 

.7 

.6 

1.4 

.7 

.9 

.9 

.9 

.8 

1.3 

1.2 

1.3 

1.1 

.9 

1.0 

.4 

1.0 

1.1 
.3 
1.2 
2.2 
1.5 


Per ct. 
12.2 
19.0 
14.9 
15.1 
6.8 
19.3 
12.0 
17.7 

15.8 

13. 3 

14.3 

13.1 

20.2 

17.6 
14.2 

13.5 

11.0 

8.4 

12.3 

7.1 
10.6 

15.0 
15.3 
11.6 

7.0 
7.6 


Per ct. 

5.0 

8.7 

7.3 

6.9 

11.6 

11.2 

5.9 

11.0 

9.4 

8.2 

10.8 
6. 8 

11.8 

9.1 
9.2 

8.1 

7.4 
5.2 

7.4 
4.8 
6.7 

5.8 
6.4 
8.4 
9.7 
6.0 


Per ct. 
1.2 
2.9 
.7 
2.0 
1.8 
2.5 
1.8 
2.3 

2.0 

2.0 

1.8 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Caln- 
ries. 


Corn leaves and husks 










Cornstalks stripped . . 










Kafir corn 
























Oat fodder 










Wheat fodder 












Red top in bloom 












Tall oat grass in 
bloom 












Orchard grass in 
bloom 












Meadow fescue in 
bloom 












Italian rye grass corn- 












Timothy at different 


2.1 

2.8 

1.7 

2.1 

2.0 
1.1 

2.7 
1.7 
2.6 

1.5 












Kentucky blue grass 
at different stages . . 












Hungarian grass 












Red clover at differ- 


3.44 

3.05 
2.42 

3.75 




10.94 

8. 91 
6.80 

9.96 


3 79 as 7Qfi 


Alsike clover in 


3. 16 
2. 43 

3.46 


28, 681 
21,669 

31 936 


Crimson clover^ 

Alfalfa at different 


















SILAGE. 












Sorghum silage 


1.1 

2.6 
2.8 
2.9 










Red-clover silage 










Soy-bean silage 










Cowpea-vine silage . . . 











« Digestibility calculated from values obtained with green alfalfa. 



14 

Table 1. — Average composition of a number of feeding stuffs — Continued. 



Kind of food 
material. 



HAY AND DRY COARSE 
FODDER. 

Corn fodder, field 

cured 

Cornleaves, fieldcured 
Corn husks, field cured 
Cornstalks, field cured 
Corn stover, fieldcured 
Kafir-cornstover, field 

cured 

Barley hay 

Oat hay 

Wheat hay. 

Redtop cut at different 

stagesa 

Redtop cut in bloomo. 

Orchard grass a 

Timothy 

Kentucky blue grass a . 

Hungarian grass « 

Meadow fescuea 

Italian rye grassa 

Mixed grasses^ 

Rowen (mixed)a 

Mixed grasses and 

cloversa 

Swamp hay a 

Salt-marsh hay 

Red clover 

Red clover in bloomb. 

Alsike cloverfc 

White clover 6 

Crimson clover & 

Alfalfa 

Cowpea 

Soy bean 

Flat pea 

Soy-bean straw 

Wheat straw 

Rye straw <? 

Oat straw c 

Buckwheat straw . . . 

ROOTS AND TUBERS. 



Potatoes . 

Carrots . . 



GRAINS AND OTHER 
SEEDS. 



Corn, dent 

Corn, flint 

Corn, all varieties . . . 

Kafir corn 

Chicken corn 

Barlev 

Oats 

Rye 

Wheat, all varieties . 
Cotton seed, whole, 

with hulls 

Cowpea 



MILL PRODUCTS. 



Corn meal 

Oats, ground 

Corn and cob meal . . 
Barley meal 



Percentage composition. 



Per ct. 

42.2 
30.0 
50.9 
68.4 
40.5 

19.2 
10.6 
16.0 



8.9 

8.7 

9.9 

13.2 

21.2 

7.7 

20.0 

8.5 

15.3 

16.6 

12.9 
11.6 
10.4 
15.3 
20.8 
9.7 
9.7 
9.6 
8.4 
10.7 
11.3 
8.4 
10.1 
9.6 
7.1 
9.2 
9.9 



78.9 
88.6 



10.6 
11.3 

10.9 
12.5 
14.8 
10.9 
11.0 
11.6 
10.5 

9.1 
11.9 



15.0 
11.7 
16.1 
11.9 



Pro- 
tein. 



Per ct. 

4.5 
6.0 
2.5 
1.9 
3.8 

4.8 
9.3 
7.4 
6.0 

7.9 
8.0 
8.1 
5.9 
7.8 
7.5 
7.0 
7.5 
7.4 
11.6 

10.1 

7.2 

5.5 

12.3 

12.4 

12.8 

15.7 

15.2 

14.3 

16.6 

15.4 

22.9 

4.6 

3.4 

3.0 

4.0 

5.2 



2.1 
1.1 



10.3 
10.5 
10.5 
10.9 
10.6 
12.4 
11.8 
10.6 
11.9 

19.6 
23.5 



9.2 
11.0 

8.5 
10.5 



Fat. 



Per ct. 

1.6 

1.4 
.7 
.5 

1.1 

1.6 
2.5 
2.7 
1.8 

1.9 
2.1 
2.6 
2.5 
3.9 
2.1 
2.7 
1.7 
2.5 
3.1 

2.6 
2.0 
2.4 
3.3 
4.5 
2.9 
2.9 
2.8 
2.2 
2.9 
5.2 
3.2 
1.7 
1.3 
1.2 
2.3 
1.3 



5.0 
5.0 
5.4 
2.9 
2.6 
1.8 
5.0 
1.7 
2.1 

20.1 
1.7 



3.8 
3.9 
3.5 
2.2 



Nitro- 
gen- 
free 
ex- 
tract. 



Per ct. 

34.7 
35.7 
28.3 
17.0 
31.5 

39.6 

48.7 
40.6 
55.3 

47.5 
46.4 
41.0 
45.0 
37.8 
49.0 
38.4 
44.9 
42.1 
39.4 

41.3 
45.9 
44.0 
38.1 
33.8 
40.7 
39.3 
36.6 
42.7 
42.2 
38.6 
31.4 
37.4 
43.4 
46.6 
42.4 
35.1 



17.3 
7.6 



70.4 
70.1 
69.6 
70.5 
58.8 
69.8 
59.7 
72.5 
71.9 

28.3 
55.7 



68.9 
62. 3 

64.8 
66.3 



Crude 
fiber. 



Per ct. 

14.3 
21.4 
15.8 
11.0 
19.7 

26.8 
23.6 
27.2 
22.5 

28.6 
29.9 
32.4 
29.0 
23.0 
27.7 
25.0 
30.5 
27.2 
22.5 

27.6 
26.6 
30.0 
24.8 
21.9 
25.6 
24.1 
27.2 
25.0 
20.1 
22.3 
26.2 
40.4 
38.1 
38.9 
37.0 
43.0 



.6 
1.3 



2.2 
1.7 
2.1 
1.9 

8.7 
2.7 
9.5 
1.7 
1.8 

18.9 
3.8 



1.9 

18.0 
6.6 
6.5 



Ash. 



Per ct. 



2.7 
5.5 
1.8 
1.2 
3.4 



8.0 
5.3 
6.1 
5.6 

5.2 
4.9 
6.0 
4.4 
6.3 
6.0 
6.9 
6.9 
5.5 
6.8 

5.5 
6.7 
7.7 
6.2 
6.6 
8.3 
8.3 
8.6 
7.4 
7.5 
7.2 
7.9 
5.8 
4.2 
3.2 
5.1 
6.5 



1.0 

1.0 



1.5 
1.4 
1.5 
1.3 
4.5 
2.4 
3.0 
1.9 
1.8 

4.0 
3.4 



1.4 
3.1 
1.5 
2.6 



Digestible materials in 
100 pounds. 



Pro- 
tein. 



Lbs. 



4.51 
4.57 
4.62 
1. 25 
4.45 
4.28 
4.00 
4.28 
4.23 
6.62 

5.77 
4.11 



6.85 
6.91 
7.13 
8.74 
8.47 
10.67 



.94 

.83 

1.11 



1.85 
1.09 



5.95 
6.07 
6.07 



9.39 
8.51 



6.99 
9.06 



Fat. 



Lbs. 



0.39 
.43 
.54 

1.18 
.81 
.43 
.56 
.35 
.52 
.64 

.54 
.41 



.95 
1.29 
.83 
.83 
.80 
.42 



.85 

.79 

1.51 



2.39 
2. 39 

2.58 



3.60 
.72 



Nitro- 
gen- 
free 
ex- 
tract. 



Lbs 



26. 93 
26. 31 
23. 25 
21. 29 
21. 43 
27.78 
21.77 
25.51 
23. 87 
22.34 

23. 42 
26. 02 



24. 19 
21.46 
25.84 
24.96 
23. 24 
29. 98 



12. 20 
13.10 
11.91 



17.20 
7.13 



62. 09 

61.83 
61. 39 



45.25 
63. 29 



2.55 
3.12 



64.70 
45. 03 



Crude 
fiber. 



11.35 
11.87 
12. 86 
12.35 

9.13 
11.00 
10.28 
12. 11 
10.80 

8.93 

10.96 
10. 56 



9.27 
8.19 
9.57 
9.01 
10.17 
9.75 



6.74 
6.89 
6.55 



.05 



2. 82 

1.70 



.38 
2.59 



a Digestibility calculated from values obtained with meadow hay. 
b Digestibility calculated from values obtained with red clover hay. 
c Digestibility calculated from values obtained with wheat straw. 



15 

Table 1. — Average composition of a number of feeding stuffs —Continued. 





Percentage composition. 


Digestible materials in 
100 pounds. 


En- 
ergy 
in 100 
lbs. di- 
gesti- 
ble 
nutri- 
ents. 


Kind of food 
material. 


Water. 


Pro- 
tein. 


Fat. 


Nitro- 
gen- 
free 
ex- 
tract. 


Crude 
fiber. 


Ash. 


Pro- 
tein. 


Fat, 


Nitro- 
gen- 
free 

ex- 
tract. 


Crude 
fiber. 


MILL PRODUCTS — COI1. 


Per ct. 
13.1 


Per ct. 
6.7 


Per ct. 
0.8 
1.2 

4.4 

.5 
8.3 
6.2 
8.8 
8.3 
7.1 
2.8 
1.6 
6.7 
2.8 
4.0 
4.0 
4.5 
3.0 
13.1 
2.2 

7.9 

3.0 


Per ct. 
78.3 
51.1 


Per ct. 
0.4 
14.4 


Per ct. 
0.7 
2.6 

2.2 

1.4 
2.5 
1.5 
.8 
1.1 
3.7 
3.6 
10 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Calo- 
ries. 




10. 5 20. 2 












Ground corn and oats 
(equal parts) 

WASTE PRODUCTS. 


11.9 

10.7 

11.1 

8.7 

8.6 

7.8 

7.7 

12.2 

75.7 

8.0 

11.8 

11.9 

12.1 

11.8 

11.6 

8.2 

11.1 

9.2 

9.9 
25.7 
25. 1 


9.6 

2.4 

9.8 

9.8 
30.0 
. 23.4 
16.0 
12.3 

5.4 
24.1 
14.7 
15.4 
15.6 
14.9 
12.5 
42.3 

4.2 

32.9 

35.9 
a 7. 3 
a 2. 4 


! 

71-9 












54.9 
64.5 
62.6 
49.2 
53.2 
59.4 
61.8 
12.5 
44.8 
63.9 
53.9 
60.4 
56.8 
65.1 
23.6 
33.4 

35.4 

36.8 
b 58. 2 
b69.3 


30.1 
3.8 

11.2 
2.6 
6.2 
6.1 
7.3 
3.8 








































































Barley screenings 

Brewers' grains, wet. . 
Brewers' grains, dried . 






















13. 3.4 










3.3 
9.0 
4.6 
7.4 
4.9 
5.6 
46.3 

8.9 

8.8 


3.5 
5.8 
3.3 
4.6 
2.9 
7.2 
2.8 

5.7 

5.6 
8.8 
3.2 




















Wheat middlings 














Wheat screenings 








i 














Linseed meal, old 










Linseed meal, new 










Beet-sugar molasses . . 
Cane-sugar molasses. . 


7.3 

3.2 


58.2 
69.3 




259, L82 
298, 398 



a Largely nonalbuminoid nitrogenous materials. 
b Very largely sugars. 



COMPAEATIVE VALUE OF FEEDING STUFFS. 



CEREAL GRAINS. 

It will be seen that the cereal grains resemble each other quite 
closely in composition, being characterized by fairl} T low water con- 
tent and a considerable amount of protein and nitrogen-free extract. 
Some crude fiber, derived from the outer or bran layer of the corn, is 
also present. The superiority of one grain over another must there- 
fore depend, in large measure, if it exists at all, on some factor other 
than composition. It has been urged by many that oats possess a 
peculiar stimulating body called "avenin," and are on this account 
superior to other grains for horses. Oats undoubtedly possess a 
flavor or some such characteristic which makes them a favorite food 
with horses, but the most careful chemical study has failed to reveal 
any substance of the nature of the theoretical avenin. Recent experi- 
ments a have shown that the fat of oats and oat straw is more thoroughly 
digested than that of other cereals. This is suggested as a possible 
explanation of the superior feeding value of oats. 

«Landw. Jahrb., 29 (1900), p. 483. 



16 

It is believed by many that horses show more spirit when oats form 
part of the ration. Discussing this subject, Director W. A. Henry, 
of the Wisconsin Experiment Station, says: 

Horses nurtured on oats show mettle which can not be reached by the use of any 
other feeding stuff. Then, too, there is no grain so safe for horse feeeding, the ani- 
mal rarely being seriously injured if by accident or otherwise the groom deals out 
an oversupply. This safety is due in no small measure to the presence of the oat 
hull, which causes a given weight of grain to possess considerable volume, because 
of which there is less liability of mistake in measuring out the ration; further, the 
digestive tract can not hold a quantity of oat grains sufficient to produce serious dis- 
orders. Unless the horse is hard pressed for time or has poor teeth oats should be 
fed in the whole condition. Musty oats should be avoided. 

Horsemen generally agree that new oats should not be used, though Boussingault, 
conducting extensive experiments with army horses, arrived at the conclusion that 
new oats do not possess the injurious qualities attributed to them. 

In the opinion of Lavalard: 6 

Not only may single grains and other single foods be substituted for oats, but more 
or less complex mixtures may be used as well. We believe that both from a hygi- 
enic and an economic standpoint our experiments have settled this matter, which 
has provoked so much discussion. An examination of the statistics we have gath- 
ered in the last thirty-five years show that, although a great saving has been effected, 
it has not been at the expense of the productive power of the horses. 

Boussingault, perhaps, first suggested on the basis of experiments 
that other materials may be substituted for oats in the ration of 
horses. He prepared a table of nutritive equivalents, using hay as a 
unit of comparison. This was not very satisfactory, since the com- 
position of hay varies within wide limits. 

The grain most commonly substituted for oals in this country is 
Indian corn or maize. It is so commonly used, especially in the South 
and West, that it is difficult to realize the prejudice which has existed 
against it in other countries. It has been asserted that there are 
climatic and other conditions which render corn a suitable horse feed 
in America which do not exist elsewhere. This hardly seems reason- 
able, and has not been borne out hj the numerous experiments under- 
taken in France, Germany, and other countries. Such experiments 
have demonstrated the value of corn and shown the truth of the 
opinions generally held in this country, namely, that it is a safe and 
satisfactory feeding stuff for horses. 

Barley, rye, and wheat are sometimes fed to horses. Their resem- 
blance to oats will be seen by reference to the table. All these grains 
should be substituted on the basis of chemical composition, and not 
pound for pound. As would be expected, the ground grains differ 
little from the same varieties before grinding. 

Bran, shorts, middlings, and other by-products vary in composition, 
but all have a low water content, while the crude fiber content is gen- 

« Feeds and Feeding, Madison, Wis., 1898. 

& Experiment Station Record, 12 (1900-1901), p. 4. 



17 

erally rather high. Their nutritive ingredients are principally protein 
and carbohydrates. The high crude fiber content Is due to the fact 
that these products represent the outer layers of the grain, which are 
more hard and firm in construction than the interior portion, which 
consists largely of starch. 

The total number of tests to compare different feeding stuffs for 
horses which have been undertaken by the agricultural experiment 
stations in the United States is not large compared with the tests 
made with other farm animals. The results obtained are, however, 
interesting. Some of those which have to do with grain, whole and 
ground, follow: 

At the Maine Station Jordan " made a comparison with oats and a 
mixture of one-third pea meal and two-thirds middlings for Percheron 
colts. No advantage was observed for the oats over the mixture. A 
comparison of oats with mixed grains (middlings, gluten meal, and 
linseed meal), also made with colts, showed that considerably larger 
gains were made on the mixed grain ration, which was also the more 
nitrogenous. 

At the Utah Station J. W. Sanborn 6 tested the effect of feeding 
grains (rye, oats, and bran) and cut hay, mixed and separately. So 
far as the test showed, the two methods of feeding were equally satis- 
factory. No regular variation in the weight of the two lots of horses 
was observed when the comparative value of the whole and cut hay 
(alfalfa and clover mixed) was tested. 

The comparative value of corn and oats supplementing bran and 
hay was also tested at the Utah Station/ The grains were ground 
and mixed before feeding. In these and other tests referred to above 
it appears that during the summer corn and timothy were not as good 
as oats, wheat, and clover for maintaining horses. During the winter 
corn and timothy were as satisfactory as oats, clover, and timothy in 
maintaining weight. During the spring and summer wheat or bran 
and mixed hay produced greater gains in weight than oats, wheat, or 
bran and mixed hay. In another trial ( ' corn meal and timothy hay 
did not sustain work horses as well as oats, wheat, and clover hay. 

The value of oats versus bran and shorts, the feeding value of wheat, 
wheat versus bran and ground wheat, were tested with horses and 
mules by J. H. Shepperd' at the North Dakota Station. Bran and 
shorts were found to have practically the same feeding value as oats. 
Unground wheat was poorly digested, and it was therefore believed 
undesirable to feed it as a sole grain ration. When wheat was added 
to a ration of bran and shorts 1:1 no advantage was gained. On the 
basis of tests reported, bran and ground wheat 1:2 was considered 

a Maine Station Rpt. 1890, p. 68. ^Utah Station Rpt. 1892, p. 30. 

& Utah Station Bui. 13. * North Dakota Station Bui. 20. 

c Utah Station Bui. 36. 

17399— No. 125—03 2 



18 

a more satisfactory grain ration for horses at light work than whole 
oats. 

The New Hampshire Station a studied the value of different grain 
mixtures for horses with the view to determining whether the cost of 
a ration could not be diminished by lessening the amount of oats fed. 
The rations consisted of different mixtures of oats, bran, corn, gluten 
feed, linseed-oil meal, and cotton-seed meal. Fairly good results were 
obtained with all the grain mixtures, the mixture containing cotton- 
seed meal being least satisfactory, as it was not relished at first by the 
horses. It is stated by C. W. Burkett, who carried on the tests, that 
the oats proved no more satisfactory than the other concentrated feed- 
ing stuffs, either in respect to the general condition of the animal or 
the efficiency for work, and the conclusion was drawn that a combi- 
nation of feeding stuffs, furnishing the desired nutriment at a reason- 
able cost, should be considered in preparing rations for horses. A 
mixture of bran and corn, half and half, is regarded as a good substi- 
tute for corn and oats for work horses. 

In a study of alfalfa hay and timothy hay for horses at the Utah 
Station 6 the comparative merits of oats and a mixture of bran and 
shorts were also tested. The conclusion was drawn that the mixed 
grain could be satisfactorily substituted for oats. 

The barley grown on the Pacific coast is extensively used in the 
feeding of horses, and its use for this purpose is old in other countries. 
Elsewhere barley is not extensively used as a feed in the United States, 
doubtless owing to the fact that it is in such demand for brewing pur- 
poses that it is usually high in price. Wherever it is grown, how- 
ever, it is frequently possible to secure at a low cost grain which is off 
color owing to rain or fog during harvest, and which, for this or some 
other reason, is unfit for brewing, but valuable as feed. 

Barley may be fed whole to horses having good teeth and not required 
to do severe work. Since ground barley, like wheat, forms a pasty 
mass when mixed with saliva it is regarded as more satisfactory to 
crush than to grind it, if for any reason it is considered undesirable to 
feed the grain whole. 

At the North Dakota Station J. H. Shepperd 1 ' has recently studied 
the value of barley as a feed for work horses and mules. For some 
months this grain was fed with timothy hay to three horses and two 
mules. The mules did not eat the barley with marked relish at any 
time, but for two months, during which time they were performing 
light work, they ate enough to keep them in condition. The work was 
then increased, but they would not eat a correspondingly greater quan- 
tity of barley, and soon began to refuse it altogether for a day or so 

« New Hampshire Station Bui. 82. " North Dakota Station Bui. 45. 

&Utah Station Bui. 77. 



19 

at a time. The mules were then given oats on alternate months. This 
grain was eaten with relish, and gains in weight were made. Although 
the trial lasted nine months, the mules persistently refused barley. 

Of the horses mentioned above, two were work horses. They were 
fed alternately barley and oats with timothy hay for nine periods of 
twenty-eight days each. They ate the barley without regard to the 
amount of work required of them. On the oat ration there was an 
average daily gain of 0.38 pound per horse. On the barley ration 
there was an average daily gain per horse of 0.15 pound. In both 
cases the horses averaged 5.50 hours' work per day. 

This trial indicates that horses, when taxed to the limit by hard work, 
can not be supported upon barley quite so well as upon oats, and that 
it is worth slightly less per pound than oats with stock which is given 
a medium amount of work. It indicates further that mules take less 
kindly to barley than do horses, and that horses which are inclined to 
be "dainty" will not eat barley so readily as oats. 

Malted barley was compared with oats in a trial made with four 
work horses. The two grains were alternated in different periods. Oat 
hay was supplied as coarse fodder. The malted barley was prepared 
as follows: After soaking in water for twent} T -four hours the grain 
was spread on the floor in a layer 6 inches or less in depth and allowed 
to remain until the sprouts were 0.5 to 0.75 inch long; it was then fed. 
On the oat ration there was a daily gain of 0.-19 pound, and on the 
malted barley there was an average daily loss of 0.76 pound per horse. 
When fed malted barley the horses ate 0.1 pound more grain than 
when fed oats. In this test the horses worked between five and six 
hours per day on an average. 

A mixture of malted barley and bran was also compared with oats, 
the two rations being alternated as above. The grains were mixed in 
the proportion of two parts of barley (before malting) to one part of 
bran. As in the above test, oat hay was fed with the grain. The 
horses worked some seven hours per day. When fed a barley and bran 
ration they ate an amount equivalent to about 17.4 pounds of dry grain 
per da}^. There was an average daily loss of 0.8 pound per horse. 
When fed the oat ration an average of 16.2 pounds was consumed 
per day, and there was an average daily gain per horse of 0.22 pound. 
In other words, the horses did not maintain their weight on the bran 
and malted barley, although they ate a larger quantity than when the 
oat ration was fed. 

These trials indicate that malted barley is not an economical feed 
for work horses, and that the addition of 1 part bran to 2 parts of 
malt, as measured by the dry barley, from which it was produced, is 
neither a cheap nor satisfactory feed for hard-worked horses. 

Few experiments have been reported on the feeding value of Kafir 
corn for horses. At the Oklahoma Station, according to Morrow and 



20 

Bone/' -il bushels of ground Kafir corn were fed during a year to a 
pair of work horses in addition to other grain and coarse fodder. 
From this test and others made with different farm animals the con- 
clusion was drawn that Kafir corn is a healthful, palatable, and nutri- 
tious feed with a feeding value somewhat less than that of corn. This 
grain is very flinty, and to secure the best results should be ground. 
According to information recently received from the station, Kafir 
corn is highly esteemed locally as a feed for horses, many being kept 
throughout the year on this grain and prairie ha}\ The unthrashed 
heads are commonly fed, a head of Kafir corn being regarded as 
equivalent to an ear of corn. 

At the Mississippi Station* chicken corn, a variet} r of Kafir corn, 
was compared with corn meal as a feed for mules doing heavy work, 
mixed hay being fed in addition to the grain ration. The mules fed 
the chicken corn lost in weight a little more than those fed corn meal. 
According to those making the test "the feeding value of the chicken 
corn is about as high as that of the corn." 

LEGUMINOUS SEEDS. 

Beans and other leguminous seed resemble the cereal grains in hav- 
ing a low water content. In Europe horse beans are common feeding 
stuff for horses. Lavalard says: c 

The experiments made many years ago for the Paris cab companies warrant the 
statement that when beans replace oats, only half the quantity should be used. 
Tests made with army horses have confirmed this conclusion. The chemical compo- 
sition of beans shows why they are regarded as more nutritious than oats alone. 
Beans may be advantageously fed to horses required to perform long continued, sud- 
den, or severe labor. The opinion is prevalent in England that in hunting it is always 
possible to recognize horses fed with beans by their great endurance. In accord with 
the practice of the leading racing stables, we used a large proportion of beans in the 
ration of young horses which were being trained. The results obtained were most 
satisfactory. 

OIL CAKES AND OTHER COMMERCIAL BY-PRODUCTS. 

The various cakes, gluten materials, and similar feeding stuffs are, 
generally speaking, commercial by-products. Thus, cotton-seed cake 
is the material left after the oil has been expressed from the cotton 
seed. In the same way, linseed cake is the residue obtained in the 
manufacture of linseed oil. If this cake is ground it becomes linseed 
meal. In the manufacture of beer the malted grain is known as brew- 
ers' grain and is best fed after drying. When starch is manufactured 
from corn, the nitrogenous portion of the grain is rejected and consti- 
tutes gluten feed and gluten meal. The cereal breakfast food com- 
panies have placed many feeding stuffs upon the market made up of 

"Oklahoma Station Rpt. 1899, p. 31. cLoc. cit. 

''Mississippi Station Bui. 8. 



21 

various by-products obtained in the manufacture of thoir breakfast 
foods and similar products. These feeding stuffs vary in value, but 
may generally be said to represent the branny portion of the grains 
from which they are derived. 

A comparison was made by E. B. and L. A. Voorhees" of dried 
brewers' grains when substituted for oats, pound for pound, at the 
New Jersey stations, eight horses heavily worked during the summer 
being used. As shown by weight and general condition of the animals, 
the brewers' grains were fully equal to the oats, pound for pound, 
while their cost was considerably less. In a second trial, dried 
brewers' grains were compared with a mixture of wheat bran and 
linseed meal 5 : 1.5 when fed in addition to timothy hay and corn. The 
uniformity in the amount of feed consumed and the weight of the 
animals, taken in connection with the work performed, indicates that 
there was no material difference in the value of the two rations. 
According to calculations made (timothy hay at the time being worth 
$18, wheat bran $17.50, corn meal $22, dried brewers' grain $17, and 
linseed meal $29 per ton), a farm horse weighing 1,000 pounds can be 
fed for $30.81 during the six months of the year when the most work is 
performed if dried brewers' grain furnishes the bulk of the necessary 
protein, and for $33.49 if wheat bran and linseed meal are the chief 
sources of this nutrient. If the fertilizing value of the feeding stuff's 
is taken into account the difference in favor of the brewers' grains is 
less marked. 

In tests made by Emery b at the North Carolina Station horses were 
satisfactorily fed 2 pounds of cotton-seed meal per head daily as part 
of the mixed ration. When the amount was increased to 3.5 pounds 
the results were not as favorable. It is stated that neither of the 
horses used in the test showed any symptoms which indicated that 
cotton-seed meal disagreed with them. It is also stated that at the 
Biltmore estate 2 pounds of cotton-seed meal per head daily were fed 
to the horses and mules with 13 to 15 pounds of cut hay and finely cut 
corn feed, 1 pounds of wheat bran, and 6 pounds of corn meal. On 
Sunda} r s the ration was made up of whole corn and oats and uncut hay. 
According to later information the feeding of cotton-seed meal has not 
been found satisfactory at Biltmore. In the tests with mixed rations, 
carried on at the New Hampshire Station (p. 18), the cotton-seed mix- 
ture was least satisfactory. 

In the opinion of Director Stubbs, e of the Louisiana stations, cotton- 
seed meal ma} T be fed with satisfactory results to horses and mules. 
At the Louisiana stations 1 or 2 pounds per mule per day have been 
fed with success. Six pounds is regarded as the maximum quantity 

a New Jersey Stations Bui. 92, Rpt. 1893, p. 179. 
''North Carolina Station Bui. 109. 
c Louisiana Planter, 28 (1902), p. 178. 



22 

which it is desirable to feed, and, in Director Stubbs's opinion, this 
amount should be led up to gradually. He notes that only bright yel- 
low cotton-seed meal of a nutty, pleasant odor and taste should be 
used, and that no reddish or musty meal should be fed. It is stated 
that excessive quantities of cotton-seed meal should be avoided, since 
it is a very concentrated feed. It should be gradually added to a 
ration, carefully mixed with other feeds, until mules learn to relish it, 
and no uneaten residues should be allowed to ferment in the feed boxes. 
The cereal grains, ground and unground, commercial by-products, 
leguminous seeds, oil cakes, and similar products are very frequently 
called concentrated feeds, the name being suggested by the fact that, 
generally speaking, the food value, especially the protein content, is 
high in comparison with the bulk. So far as the general experience 
and the results of American and foreign feeding experiments go, most 
of the common feeding stuffs in the group are wholesome and valuable 
for horses. If any one of these feeding stuffs is substituted for oats, 
which may be taken for a standard, the substitution should be propor- 
tional to the composition of the two feeds and not pound for pound. 

FORAGE CROPS, FR*ESH AND CURED. 

The various forage crops — grass, clover, Kafir corn, corn, etc. — all 
have a high water content; that is, they are more or less succulent 
and juicy. They contain, however, considerable nutritive material, 
usually protein and carbohydrates, and are valuable feeding stuffs. 

The leguminous forage crops — alfalfa, clover, cowpeas, soy beans, 
vetch, etc. — are richer in protein than the grasses. When the forage 
crops are dried and cured the resulting hay is richer in proportion to 
its bulk than the green material; in other words, it has been concen- 
trated by the evaporation of the greater part of the water present. 
However, this is not the only change which has taken place. When 
hay is properly cured it undergoes a peculiar sort of fermentation or 
oxidation which materially affects its composition. 

As shown by Holdefleis's a recent investigations, fermentation 
improves the hay by diminishing the quantity of crude fiber and by 
increasing the relative amount of other nutrients, especially nitrogen- 
free extract. The greater the fermentation the more the crude fiber 
is diminished, and this is especially marked when hay is dried on 
racks. Hay which has undergone proper fermentation has a better 
flavor and agrees better with animals and is apparently more digesti- 
ble than hay which has dried quickly in the sun without fermentation. 
Fermentation apparently diminishes the amount of pentosans in hay, 
especially in the case of hay from grasses. It also seems that the 
relative amount of true protein is increased. 

« Mitt. Landw. Inst. Univ. Breslau, 1899, p. 59. 



23 

The feeding value of different forage crops, fresh and cured, depends 
in considerable degree upon the stage of growth, as has been shown 
by a number of chemical studies of the composition of different crops 
and cuttings of alfalfa, .young and more matured corn forage, etc. 
Generally speaking, the nutritive value of the crop increases until 
growth is complete and diminishes somewhat as the plants mature or 
become overripe. Straw, the fully ripened stalk of cereal grains, 
contains some nutritive material, but is less nutritious than the same 
portion of the plant cut before ripening. In the perfectly ripe con- 
dition the nutritive material, elaborated in different portions of the 
ordinary forage plants, has been conveyed to the seed and used for its 
development or stored as reserve material. 

Green forage crops are frequently preserved by ensiling. In this 
process the material undergoes a peculiar oxidation which correspond- 
ingly changes it in composition and food value. Some of the carbo- 
Irydrates are changed into alcohol, acetic and other acids, and crude 
fiber is undoubtedly softened somewhat, and possibly the silage is thus 
rendered more digestible. Bodies having peculiar flavor and odor are 
also formed. 

The green crops, hay, straw, other cured crops, and silage are fre- 
quently called " coarse fodder" or " roughage." This term is due to 
the fact that they contain a comparatively small amount of nutritive 
material and a high proportion of crude fiber as compared with their 
total bulk. Although inferior to concentrated feeds in composition, 
they are an essential part of the ration of horses and other farm ani- 
mals, serving to give the required bulk to the food and being- useful in 
other ways. 

It is believed that unless the food, when taken into the stomach, is 
comparatively bulk} T and the mass is more or less loose in structure, 
it is not readily acted on by the digestive juices. The intestinal tract 
of the horse is long in proportion to the size of the animal, and food 
remains in it for several days. Experiments indicate that crude fiber, 
which is only slightly digestible by man, is quite thoroughly digested 
by horses, and even more thoroughly digested try ruminants, owing its 
digestibility to the fact that it is fermented for a comparatively long 
period by micro-organisms in the intestines. 

Regarding the need of straw in a ration to supply the necessary bulk, 
Lavalard's" opinion follows: 

The statement is often made that horses can not do without straw [to supply coarse 
fodder]. This is an error, for we have fed horses hay and oats during very long 
periods, and have never noticed that they suffered any inconvenience or detriment. 
This is a matter of importance, since it is often inconvenient to obtain straw [even 
for bedding], and in such cases peat, sawdust, sand, etc., may be profitably used as 
bedding in place of straw. 

«Loc. cit. 



24 

This does not mean that crude fiber, one of the important constitu- 
ents of coarse fodder, is not required, but rather that a sufficient 
amount of crude fiber was supplied by the ha} T and oats in the cases 
cited b}' the author. As part of a series comprising some fifteen 
experiments carried on at the Maryland Station/' an attempt was made 
to feed the horses on oats alone. At the beginning- of the trial one 
horse consumed 6,000 grams (13.2 pounds) and the other 6,750 grams 
(14.9 pounds) of oats per d&y, but after a few days refused to eat. The 
experiment could not be continued long enough to permit the determi- 
nation of the coefficients of digestibility. Under the experimental 
conditions it was regarded as impossible to maintain horses on a grain 
ration alone; it seemed certain that they required some coarse fodder 
in addition. From such experiments the general deduction is obvious 
that the common practice of feeding horses on a ration of grain and 
coarse fodder is reasonable and based on the actual physiological 
requirements of the animal. 

A number of feeding experiments have been made on the compara- 
tive value for horses of different forage crops, fresh and cured. The 
American experiment stations have studied the more important coarse 
fodders in-use in this country. A summary of their work fallows. 

D. O. Nourse 6 of the Virginia Station reported a number of trials 
of the value of corn silage for horses and mules. Gradually increas- 
ing amounts were fed until they were given all the silage they could 
eat, with hay and grain in addition. Provided animals are gradually 
accustomed to it, as shown b} r these tests, silage is a satisfactory feed 
for horses and mules. 

In tests carried on by J. H. Shepperd'' at the North Dakota Station 
oat straw and prairie hay were compared. Oat straw was found to be 
a cheaper horse fodder than hay, but when it was used more careful 
feeding was necessary to keep the horses in good condition. In a 
subsequent test d brome grass hay gave as good results when fed to 
work horses as timothy hay. 

In a study of different grain mixtures for work hor.ses, carried on 
at the New Hampshire Station/' the relative merits of timothy hay 
and corn stover were also studied. The rations consisted of 12 pounds 
of hay and corn stover alone or mixed, fed with 14 pounds of mixed 
grain. During the test, which covered nearly three months, the two 
sorts of coarse fodder were found equally satisfactoiy. Although the 
corn stover cost only one-third as much as the timothy hay, the con- 
clusion was drawn that it has a feeding value equal to timothy hay fed 
with suitable mixtures of either corn and oats or corn and bran, and 
that when corn stover or timothy hay supplied the coarse fodder in a 

« Maryland Station Bui. 51. ''North Dakota Station Bui. 45. 

t> Virginia Station Bui. 80. 'New Hampshire Station Bui. 82. 

c North Dakota Station Bui. 20. 



25 

ration, oats and corn, half and half, and bran and corn, half and half, 
have generally equivalent feeding values. 

Bermuda grass hay and timothy hay, fed in addition to corn, were 
compared with working mules at the Mississippi Station/' No marked 
differences in the cost of the rations nor in the gains made by the 
mules were observed. 

The Oklahoma Station h reports a test in which Kafir corn stover was 
fed to horses and mules, the amount eaten by the horses averaging 
some 32 pounds per day and by the mules some 41 pounds. From 
this and tests of other farm animals the conclusion was drawn that 
Kafir corn stover is about equal in feeding value to corn stover, and 
that running stalks through a thrashing machine is a satisfactory 
method of preparing this feeding stuff. 

At the Utah Station c a ration of timothy ha} 7 and grain was com- 
pared with one consisting of clover, oats, and wheat, two lots of work 
horses being used. The nutritive ratio of the first ration was 1:14.8; 
of the second, 1:5.5. For more than half the test the grains were fed 
unground. Somewhat better results were obtained with a ration hav- 
ing the narrower nutritive ratio. However, in a second test, rf the 
ration having a wide nutritive ratio (1:15.2) gave results as satisfactory 
as the one having a narrower ratio (1:7.8). 

Later, at the Utah Station, the comparative merits of alfalfa hay and 
timothy hay were investigated by L. A. Merrill* in tests with work 
horses and driving horses, which extended over four years. In some of 
the tests as much as 25 pounds of alfalfa or timoth} r hay with 10 pounds 
of bran and shorts was fed per head daily. In other tests the amount 
of hay was considerably smaller and the amount of grain larger. In 
some cases oats were fed instead of bran and shorts. Generally speak- 
ing, the timothy ration was the more expensive and the horses did not 
maintain their weight on it as well as on the alfalfa ration. 

Tests were also made in which the feeding value of an alfalfa ration 
without grain was studied. It was found that 20 pounds of this mate- 
rial was sufficient to maintain the weight of a horse weighing nearly 
1,400 pounds, provided no work was performed. When at hard work 
some 33 pounds of alfalfa ha} r was barely sufficient to maintain the 
weight. When the work was very severe 40 pounds of alfalfa hay was 
not an adequate ration, although it was about the limit which could be 
eaten. Regarding the experiments, the statement was made in effect 
that it is doubtful if there is any econom} 7 in feeding a horse 40 pounds 
of alfalfa per day. It is certain that better results can be secured by 
limiting the amount of hay to 20 pounds and substituting for the extra 
20 pounds enough grain to make up the cost. This would secure at 

"Mississippi Station Bui. 15. d Utah Station Bui. 30. 

^Oklahoma Station Rpt. 1899, p. 18. *TJtah Station Bui. 77. 

cUtah Station Rpt. 1892, p. 30. 



26 

current prices [1902] 8 pounds of bran and shorts or 3.6 pounds of oats 
per day, and this amount with 20 pounds of alfalfa will make a better 
maintenance ration than 40 pounds of alfalfa. Aside from the finan- 
cial consideration it should be emphasized that if digestive disorders 
are to be entirely avoided concentrated foods must make up part of 
the diet of the horse. 

Considered as a whole the experiments are very favorable to the 
use of alfalfa hay as a coarse fodder for horses. The fact is recog- 
nized that, like other leguminous crops, it contains a larger amount 
of protein in proportion to its bulk than timothy. Feeding alfalfa 
did not exercise any bad effects on the health of the horses. It is 
stated that attacks of colic and other digestive disorders can be pre- 
vented by a judicious system of feeding. The amount of hay fed on 
most Utah farms, it is believed, could be reduced at least one-half. 
It may be economical to reduce the amount of hay and increase the 
amount of grain fed to horses. In this connection the author says: 

It is folly to claim that a horse will not eat more than is necessary if allowed the 
liberty of the stack and the grain bin. The argument is sometimes made that a 
horse under natural conditions, on pasture, never eats more than is necessary, and 
that under these conditions he is never subject to digestive disorders. While this is 
undoubtedly true, it must be kept in mind that as soon as we stable the horse and 
require work of him, we have taken him away from his natural condition and placed 
him under unnatural environments. 

It was observed that larger amounts of water were consumed on the 
alfalfa ration and that the amount of urine excreted was also larger 
and had a higher specific gravity. The excess, however, was never 
found great enough to cause any inconvenience. These experiments 
at the Utah Station are especially interesting since they confirm the 
results of twelve years' practical tests of the feeding value of alfalfa. 
During this period the station horses have always received this 
material as a coarse fodder, except when they were fed other rations 
for experimental purposes. 

From a study of the comparative digestibility of alfalfa hay and 
meadow hay by horses, Muntz and Girard" concluded that the former 
is superior as regards nitrogenous constituents and the latter as regards 
carbohydrates. 

In studies at the Wyoming Station, undertaken by F. E. Emery 6 to 
determine what constituted maintenance rations for horses performing 
little work, alfalfa hay constituted the principal feed, no grain being 
supplied. It was found that farm horses required to perform very 
little work maintained their weight on an average daily ration, per 
1,000 pounds live weight, of 13.75 pounds alfalfa hay and 2. 25 pounds 
oat straw. A driving horse maintained his weight on a dail} T ration 
of 17.71 pounds alfalfa hay and 2. 83 pounds oat straw per 1,000 pounds 
live weight. 

"Ann. Agron., 24 (1898), p. 5. & Wyoming Station Press Buls. n. ser. 5, 10. 



27 

In discussing the subject of alfalfa for horses, the California Station a 
says in effect that in regions where it is a staple crop the quantity of 
protein which can be supplied in green and cured alfalfa is so great 
that much less grain is required than when the coarse fodder consists 
of cereal hays only. For the Pacific coast, where cereal hays replace 
so largely those from meadow grasses, the station recommends a ration 
of alfalfa hay with wheat hay or barley ha}^ and grain. 

In a recent discussion of the problem" of horse feeding under local 
conditions, Director Stubbs, & of the Louisiana stations, emphasizes the 
value of cowpea vine hay. 

The outcome of the different experiments is in accord with the 
observation of careful feeders, viz, that the various common coarse 
fodders ma} r be fed to horses as circumstances demand. Although 
timothy hay is in many regions regarded as the preferable coarse feed, 
yet experience has shown that corn fodder, hay from wheat, barley, and 
other cereal grains, and from clover, and alfalfa maj r be substituted for 
it. That this is what might be expected is shown by a study of the com- 
position of these feeding stuffs. As will be seen by reference to the 
table above (p. 13), they resemble each other very closely in the char- 
acter and amount of nutrients which they contain — alfalfa, clover, 
and other leguminous hays being richer in protein than the cured 
grasses and cereal forage. Straw is not much fed to horses in the 
United States, but is a common feeding stuff in Europe. As shown by 
its composition and digestibility (pp. 1-1, 41), it compares quite favor- 
abl} r with other coarse fodders. The substitution of one coarse fodder 
for another in a ration should always be made on the basis of compo- 
sition and digestibility, rather than pound for pound. 

Very few tests have been made on the comparative value of differ- 
ent uncured feeds or different sorts of pasturage in horse feeding, 
though all the common forage crops are regarded as wholesome if 
properly fed. In discussing green crops for horses, c Lavalard says: 

Such feed is very dependent upon the fertilizer used for the crop, the method of 
harvesting, and the condition of the animal fed. Green fodder does not contain 
sufficient nutritive material to make it in any real sense a feeding stuff for horses 
performing much work. The same may be said of certain plants which have been 
much advertised from time to time, such as furze, couch grass [sacchaline], etc. 

ROOTS AND TUBERS. 

Carrots, Swedish turnips or ruta-bagas, and other roots and tubers, 
green vegetables, and fruits contain a high percentage of water and 
small amounts of the different classes of nutrients. Generally speak- 
ing, the percentage of crude fiber is smaller than in the green forage 
crops; but since the proportion of nutritive material is small in com- 
parison with the total bulk, they are ordinarily referred to as coarse 

"California Station Bui. 132. 

& Loc. cit. 

c Experiment Station Record, 12 (1900-1901), p. 4. 



28 

fodder. The use of these materials as food for horses has been 
attempted at different times with varying success, but it is not fol- 
lowed to any great extent in this country. In the opinion of a recent 
German writer, about 12 pounds of raw potatoes per 1,000 pounds live 
weight may be fed to horses with advantage and, if supplemented 
with proper feed, there need be no fear of physiological disturbances. 
When fed in this amount the potatoes should be mixed with hay or 
cut straw to insure their being properly chewed. If small, they may be 
fed whole; if large, they should be sliced. In an} r case only healthy, 
ripe, unsprouted tubers should be used. It is said that horses should 
not be watered immediately after a ration containing- potatoes. 

MOLASSES AND OTHER BY-PRODUCTS OF SUGAR MAKING. 

The beet chips, diffusion residue, and other by-products obtained in 
the manufacture of beet sugar, consist of the sugar beet from which a 
considerable portion of the carbohydrates has been removed. The 
total amount of nutritive material present, however, is fairly large. 
These products, properly speaking, are also coarse fodders. Molasses, 
which consists almost entirely of carbohydrates (sugars), was used as 
early as 1830 as a feed for horses, and has recently attracted consider- 
able attention in this connection. When used for this purpose it is 
usually sprinkled on dry feed, being first diluted with water, or it is 
mixed with some material which absorbs it and renders it easy to 
handle, such as peat dust, or with some material rich in nitrogen, as 
dried blood. In the latter case the mixture more nearly represents a 
concentrated feed than the molasses alone, or molasses mixed with an 
absorbent material only. Cane-sugar molasses is also used as a feed- 
ing stuff. It differs from beet molasses in that it contains glucose in 
addition to cane sugar, and has a much smaller percentage of salts. 

In this connection the experiments reporting the successful feed- 
ing of cane molasses to over 100 work horses at a sugar plantation in 
the Fiji Islands are of interest. As high as 30 pounds of molasses 
was fed per head daily at different times, but the ration finally adopted 
consisted of 15 pounds of molasses, 3 pounds of bran, and 1 pounds of 
maize. In addition, green sugar cane tops were fed. The health of 
the horses remained excellent. Molasses did not cause diarrhea, but 
rather constipation, which was counteracted by feeding bran. Feeding 
molasses effected a saving of over $45 per head per annum. However, 
it was believed that such a saving was possible only by reason of 
large quantities of waste molasses and valueless cane tops available on 
the spot. In discussing tnese experiments the following statements 
were made: 

For working horses the sugar in cane molasses is a satisfactory substitute for starchy 
food, being readily digested * * * and 15 pounds can be given to a 1,270-pound 
working horse with advantage to the health of the animal and to the efficiency of its 

«Agr. Gaz. New South Wales, 9 (1898), p. 169. 



29 

work. It produces no undue fattening, softness, nor injury to the wind. The high 
proportion of salts in it has no injurious effect. An albuminoid ratio as low as 1:11.8 
has proved highly suitable for heavy continuous work when a sufficient quantity of 
digestible matter is given. 

According 1 to W. C. Stubbs," of the Louisiana stations, cane-sugar 
molasses has been used extensively with success for a number of years 
for feeding horses and mules in Louisiana, many feeders keeping 
mules exclusive]} 7 on a ration of rice bran and molasses in addition to 
cowpea hay. The general custom is to feed the molasses from a large 
trough, allowing the mules to eat it ad libitum. It is said the} 7 will con- 
sume with apparent relish from 8 to 12 pounds per head daily. The 
mules at the Louisiana stations have been fed molasses daily ad libitum 
for eight or ten years, and, according to Director Stubbs, show its good 
effects "in their splendid condition, lively action, and endurance of 
work." 

In this connection it is interesting to note the results obtained by 
G. E. Griffin b in the experimental feeding- of cane-sugar molasses to 
army horses in Porto Rico. In accordance with the local custom, this 
material was fed with chopped grass, the ration being gradually sub- 
stituted for the usual ration of oats and hay. The molasses was diluted 
with 25 per cent of water, and as much as possible was mixed with the 
chopped grass. The remainder was added to the drinking water. The 
test reported continued some five months and led to the deduction that 
35 pounds of grass and 13 to 15 pounds of molasses daily per 1,000 
pounds live weight is sufficient to maintain a horse in good condition 
in a climate like that of Porto Rico. This method of feeding, it was 
believed, had some disadvantages, which were as follows: 

Molasses attracts insects, notably flies and ants; it sticks to the animal's coat, 
smears his face and breast, halter and halter strap, soils the clothing and equipment 
of the men, and causes some trouble and delay in mixing it with the grass, which 
must be cut fine. 

G. H. Berns c reports the successful feeding of molasses to 100 draft 
horses working ten hours a day hauling very heavy loads usually at a 
walk. The horses averaged 1,700 pounds in weight and were fed per 
head, night and morning, 1 quart of molasses diluted with 3 quarts of 
water and thoroughly mixed with 6 pounds of cut hay of good qual- 
ity, 1.5 quarts of corn meal, and 2.5 quarts of coarse bran. In addi- 
tion they were fed 5 quarts of dry oats in the middle of the day and 
11 pounds of long hay at night. It is stated that the horses gradually 
improved in condition and gained in weight during- the fourteen months 
covered by the test, their coats becoming sleek and glossy, while the 
amount of work performed was the same as before the molasses ration 
was adopted. In the meantime their general health is said to have 

«Loc. cit. <"Anier. Vet. Rev., 26 (1902-3), p. 615. 

&Amer. Vet. Rev., 25 (1901-2), p. 894. 



30 

been excellent, and cases of acute indigestion or spasmodic colic very 
rare, although formerly quite frequent. The molasses ration was 
decided upon after its value had been demonstrated in a test with two 
horses. A ration similar to the above was also fed with success to a 
number of driving horses. 

In general, no disturbance was observed in changing from an ordi- 
nary to a molasses ration. As part of a mixed ration, the author 
calculates that 1 quart of molasses will replace 3 to 4 quarts of oats of 
good quality. He believes that "molasses of a good quality is a most 
nutritious food for horses, easily digested and assimilated, and will in 
many cases correct faulty digestive processes," and that "molasses- 
fed horses will do fully as much work and at the same time remain, as 
a rule, in much better general condition than animals fed on dry food, 
while the cost of feeding is reduced from 25 to 33 per cent." 

As an outgrowth of this work Dr. Berns states that molasses has 
been successfully fed, under his direction, to 2,500 or 3,000 horses. 

The value of beet-sugar molasses as a part of a ration for horses and 
other farm animals was tested several years ago by Dickson and Mal- 
peaux a in France. The test with horses was made with four animals fed 
a total ration of 15.4 pounds of oats, 11 pounds of alfalfa hay, and 
11 pounds of wheat straw. Molasses was gradually substituted for 
part of the oats, until 13.2 pounds of the latter and 2 of the former 
were fed. The molasses was mixed with the drinking water. The 
feeding was continued for about six weeks, and all the horses gained 
slightly in weight. The authors regard the substitution of molasses 
for part of the oats as entirely satisfactory, since it was readily eaten 
and the vigor and weight of the horses were maintained. 

Grandeau h has very recently described a number of practical tests 
in which molasses mixtures were added to the rations of horses. The 
cost of the ration was diminished and the health and condition of the 
animals maintained. Similar results have been reported by other 
investigators in France and by Wibbens c in Holland. From all these 
investigations it seems fair to conclude that molasses can be safely 
fed to horses when its cost in comparison with other feeding stuffs 
warrants its use. Apart from the nutritive material it supplies, it has 
a value as an appetizer and frequently renders poor hay or other feed 
more palatable. 

The feeding value of blood molasses (a mixed feed containing dried 
blood and beet-sugar molasses) was studied in Denmark d with 23 
horses belonging to a Copenhagen milk company. The horses were 
divided into two lots. One lot was fed a ration of barley and oats 1:2 

«Ann. Agron., 24 (1898), p. 353. 

&Jour. Agr. Prat., n. ser., 4 (1902), pp. 569, 599, 697. 

cCultura, 14 (1902), p. 520. 

^Landrnandsblade, 32 (1899), p. 349. 



31 

during- part of the test, and later of oats and hay. Lot 2 was fed 
the same ration exeept that blood molasses was substituted for part of 
the grain in the ratio of 1 pound to 2 pounds; 2.5 pounds to 3 pounds, 
and, later, of 3 pounds to 4 pounds. This latter ratio represents about 
what was considered the comparative value of the molasses feed. In 
earlier Scandinavian experiments a the successful feeding of 2.2 pounds 
of beet-sugar molasses per head daily to work horses was observed; 
other similar tests might be cited. 

FRUITS, FRESH AND DRIED. 

Although horses are often given apples as they are given lumps of 
sugar, fruit is not generally thought of as a feeding stuff, yet its use 
for this purpose is by no means novel. The Arabs, according to E. 
Daumas, 6 common^ feed their horses fresh dates. In such dates the 
pits are soft and are eaten with the pulp. Sometimes 3 or 4 pounds 
of fresh dates are mixed with water to a sort of mush before feeding. 
It is believed that dates are fattening, but that the} r do not produce 
muscle. 

In California and possibly in other regions fruit, especiall} T prunes 
and other dried fruit, is sometimes fed when the market is overstocked 
or when for some other reason it can not be profitabl} 7 sold. Accord- 
ing to a recent statement,'' small prunes of low market value have 
been successfully fed to horses for a long period. It is stated that 
the horses eat them with relish. The pits should be crushed before 
feeding. 

The California Station d has reported analy ses of a number of fresh 
and dried fruits and discussed their value as stock feed. A recent 
report of the Arizona Station e gives the composition of almond hulls 
or pericarps, the portion of the almond removed before the nut is 
marketed, and states that this material has been found to be a fatten- 
ing feed for horses. 

All common fruits when fresh are very succulent, containing on an 
average 80 to 90 per cent water, the nutritive material consisting 
almost entirely of carbohydrates. When dried — i. e., concentrated 
by evaporation — they are much more nutritious. Raisins, prunes, 
dried peaches, etc., contain about 25 per cent water and about 70 per 
cent carbohydrates, of which a considerable part is sugar. The value 
of sugar as a nutrient is recognized, and it is not surprising, therefore, 
that fruits, especially after drying, should have a considerable feed- 
ing value. 

«K. Landt. Aka.l. Handl. Tidskr., 34 (1895), p. 24(3. 

6 Les Chevaux du Sahara. Paris: Calmann Levy, 1887, p. 134. 

c Pacific Rural Press, 60 (1900), p. 402. 

^California Station Bui. 132. 

« Arizona Station Rpt. 1902, p. 269. 



32 

INJURIOUS FEEDING STUFFS. 

In feeding horses precautions should alwaj^s be taken to avoid mate- 
rials harmful in themselves, or those which have become harmful. 
Dirt, small stones, etc., should be removed from grain by proper 
screening, and all feeding stuffs should be clean. On this subject 
Lavalard* says: 

Some of our recent experiments have had to do with the methods of feeding. They 
cover a number of points. The first and perhaps the most important is the advantage 
of cleaning the grain. Grandeau showed in his experiments that oats could be sat- 
isfactorily freed of foreign grains and impurities by some of the well-known screen- 
ing devices. He studied the composition of the impurities, and found that some of 
them were injurious to the health of the horses. 

The importance of proper cleaning is illustrated by a point in our own experience. 
A few years ago, after a very severe drought, we were compelled to feed oats containing 
tares and leguminous seeds, some of which were those of the species of Lathyrus. 
Symptoms of Lathyrus poisoning were noted in a number of horses. The attacks 
were frequently severe and sometimes fatal. When oats were properly cleaned this 
trouble was entirely obviated. Cleaning also increases the density of the oats by 
removing mineral matter and dust, which may sometimes induce attacks of intestinal 
obstruction, colic, etc. 

There are a number of plants which are poisonous to horses when 
eaten in any considerable amount. The loco plants, mostly species of 
Astragalus, are ordinarily regarded as of this class. These plants have 
been studied by the Colorado, Kansas, South Dakota, Montana, and 
Oklahoma stations among others, and by this Department, but the 
results obtained are not entirely conclusive. The poisonous properties 
of rattlebox ( Orotalaria sagittalis) were demonstrated by the South 
Dakota Station, and those of some lupines by the Montana Station. 
According to recent experiments at the Vermont Station b the common 
horsetail {Equisetum arvense) may cause poisoning when present in hay. 
It was found that when horses were fed cured horsetail equal in amount 
to not more than one-fourth of their coarse fodder ration, symptoms 
of poisoning were noticed, and if the feeding was continued the horses 
died. The symptoms of poisoning were less noticeable with young 
than with old horses, and also when a liberal grain ration was supplied. 
It was also observed that the green plant was less harmful than the 
dry, possibly owing to the fact that green fodder is somewhat laxative. 

Feeds which are ordinarily wholesome may under certain conditions 
be harmful. Thus there is a widespread and apparently justifiable 
prejudice against moldy or decomposing feeding stuffs. Experi- 
ments carried on at the Kansas and Indiana stations showed that the 
continued feeding of moldy corn induced intestinal and nervous dis- 
orders of a serious nature. It is a matter of common observation that 
food which has been wet will ferment or sour readily and cause intes- 
tinal disorders. This has to be guarded against especially in warm 

«Loc. cit. 

b Vermont Station Bui. 95. 



33 

climates. Plants which arc ordinarily wholesome may become harmful 
if infested with ergot. The effect of ergot on horses has been studied 
by the Iowa, Kansas, and Montana stations and others. It is gener- 
ally conceded that the presence of ergot is a cause of rheumatism. 
Some feeds which are regarded as wholesome when properly fed may 
sometimes prove injurious if fed for a long time, or in improper 
quantities. Thus, millet hay, in many sections of the Western United 
States, is believed to cause the so-called millet disease of horses. This 
question was studied by the North Dakota Station/' It was found 
that long-continued feeding of millet hay caused lameness and other 
symptoms of poisoning. From the experiments and observations the 
conclusion was drawn that feeding millet alone as a coarse fodder is 
injurious to horses, since it produces an increased action of the kid- 
neys and causes lameness and swelling of the joints and an infusion 
of blood into the joints. It may also injure the texture of the bones, 
rendering them soft and less tenacious. The bad effects due to long- 
continued feeding of millet were observed whether the crop was cut just 
when the heads were fully ripe or earlier, although there is a popular 
belief that the trouble is due to harvesting the crop before the heads 
are fully ripe. The investigation seemed to show conclusively that 
feeding millet produced millet disease, but the specific cause to which 
the dangerous properties of millet are due was not learned, though 
later work at the station indicates that it is a glucosid. 

An explanation of the poisoning of stock by young sorghum and 
some other forage plants is offered by the discovery by Dunstan and 
Henry 5 of a cj^anogenetic glucosid in a number of varieties of sorghum 
{Sorghum vulgare), which under the influence of a special ferment 
present in the plant liberates prussic acid. It is thought probable that 
this acid may be likewise liberated in the digestive tract of animals 
feeding on the }*oung plants. They did not find the glucosid in the 
mature sorghum. For a number of years Peters, Avery, and Slade, c 
at the Nebraska Experiment Station, have studied sorghum poisoning, 
and have recently demonstrated the presence of cyanic acid in the 
green leaves of young and old sorghum plants and Kafir corn. 

METHOD OF FEEDING. 

The method of feeding is a subject which is often discussed, the 
questions of especial interest being the comparative merits of cooked 
and raw feed, dry and soaked grain, ground and unground grain, and 
cut or chaffed and uncut coarse fodder. The number of experiments 
which have to do with these topics is not numerous. 

"North Dakota Station Buls. 7, 26, and 35. 
Troc. Roy. Soc. [London], 70 (1902), p. 153. 

c Nebraska Station Rpt. 1902, pp. 50, 55; Jour. Comp. Med. and Vet. Arch., 23 
(1902), p. 704; Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc, 25 (1903), No. 1, p. 55. 

17399— No. 125—03 3 



34 

COOKED AND RAW FEED. 

Boussingault compared oats and an equal volume of rye boiled until 
the grain burst. The results were not favorable to cooking the feed. 
According to another of his tests 30.8 pounds of mashed steam pota- 
toes could not replace 11 pounds of hay. The potatoes were mixed 
with cut straw and fed cold. 

It is often claimed that cooking feed increases its palatabilit}^ and 
digestibility. The general conclusion drawn from tests with farm 
animals is that this belief is not warranted and that the cost of cooking 
is not made up for by the increased value of the ration. Prof. W. A. 
Henry a states that boiled feed is useful for colts, brood mares, and 
stallions if fed two or three times per week, and that draft horses 
which are being prepared for sale or for exhibition may be given 
cooked feed once a day. In his opinion an excellent feed for horses 
is made by boiling barley and oats in a kettle with considerable water 
and pouring the mass over chaffed hay, allowing the whole to stand 
until the hay is well softened. Bran, roots, and a small quantity of oil 
meal may be added also. 

DRY AND SOAKED FEED. 

It is often said that soaking feed, especially hard grain, renders it 
more easily masticated and improves its digestibility. It is doubtful 
if the matter is as important with horses as some other classes of farm 
animals. According to Wolff 6 healthy horses with good teeth digested 
dry beans and corn as well as the same materials which had been soaked 
in water for 24 hours. 

Soaking or wetting feed may sometimes be of importance as regards 
the health of horses. According to the experience of an English 
feeder c chaffed straw, which was fed on account of a shortage in the 
hay crop, gave better results when soaked than when dry. The dry 
material caused colic and constipation. It was also observed that the 
horses relished soaked grain (corn and oats 1:1). 

It is believed that the dust in hay causes heaves, and to avoid such 
trouble both long and cut hay, especially clover, is very often damp- 
ened before feeding to lay the dust. 

GROUND AND TJNGROUND FEED. 

Opinions differ as regards the advantages of grinding grain. In 
Professor Henry's a opinion, for horses which are out of the stable 
during the day and worked hard, all grains, with the possible excep- 
tion of oats, should be ground, and for those at extremely hard work, 
all grain should be ground and mixed with chaffed hay. For idle 

«Loc. cit. 'Live Stock Jour., 39 (1894), p. 30. 

& See footnote, p. 60. 



35 

horses, oats or grain should not be ground, nor should hay or straw 
be chaffed. In other words, provided the animals have time to masti- 
cate their ration thoroughly, grinding is not necessary. When this 
is not the case, grinding takes the place of thorough mastication to 
some extent and increases the assimilation of the ration. 

When whole oats were compared with ground wheat and bran by 
Shepperd" at the North Dakota Station the horses fed the former 
ration ate somewhat more, and showed a slight loss in weight, while 
doing a little less work than those fed the ground grain. 

In a test of the comparative merits of timothy hay and corn and 
clover, oats, and wheat made with two lots of work horses at the Utah 
Station b the grains were fed unground for somewhat more than one- 
half of the experimental period and ground during the remainder of 
the period. The ground and unground grains were regarded as equally 
satisfactory. 

At the Iowa Station Wilson and Curtiss*' compared whole and ground 
grains (oats, corn, and barley) for colts, and found that somewhat 
larger gains were made on the ground feed. 

In the stud} T of the digestibility of the different feeding stuffs car- 
ried on at the Maryland Experiment Station Patterson d compared a 
number of whole and ground feeds. His results show that ground 
oats and corn were more thoroughly digested than the unground grain. 
In this connection it should be noted that similar results have been 
obtained in tests with other farm animals, but it is commonly believed 
that the difference in digestibility is often not sufficient to pay for the 
additional cost of grinding. 

From the American tests and those which have been made in 
Europe it appears fair to say that there is no very marked advantage 
in grinding grain for healthy horses with good teeth. Lavalard says: 

Contrary to the opinion of some experts, the writer believes k is not necessary to 
grind grain for horses. This is especially true in the case of oats. In some of our 
earlier experiments, where ground grain was fed, it was noticed after a few months 
that the horses preferred to crush it themselves. Of course this does not refer to old 
horses [i. e., horses having poor teeth]. They can be fed ground grain to advantage. 

CUT AND UNCUT COARSE FODDER. 

It is perhaps the general opinion that when horses have ample time 
for chewing and digesting their feed there is no necessity for chaffing 
or cutting hay and straw. When the time for feeding is limited 
chaffing and cutting coarse fodder is regarded as advantageous. This 
is an item of special importance with hard-worked horses kept in the 
stable only at night. Furthermore, chaffed feed occupies less space 
for storage than uncut hay or straw and can be readily handled. 

« North Dakota Station Bui. 20. ^Iowa Station Bui. 18, p. 470. 

6 Utah Station Bui. 30. ^Maryland Station Bui. 51. 



36 

Shredding corn fodder is regarded as an economical practice, but 
apparently few experiments on the comparative merits of shredded 
and whole corn fodder for horses have yet been reported. No marked 
variation was observed in the weights of two lots of horses fed whole 
and cut timothy or whole and cut alfalfa and clover ha} r mixed in a 
test carried on at the Utah Station/' 

At the Maryland Station Patterson, 6 who studied the digestibility 
of a number of whole and ground feeds, found that grinding corn 
shives — i. e., cornstalks from which the blades, husks, and pith are 
removed — until the material resembled coarse bran did not destroy its 
value as a coarse fodder and that the finely ground material supplied 
the necessary bulk to the ration as well as the same material unground. 
It was further claimed that the finely ground coarse fodder possessed 
an advantage over the unground material in that it could be mixed 
with grain to form a well-balanced ration and fed to horses on ship- 
board, or under similar conditions, more readity than unground fodder 
and grain. 

COST OF A RATION. 

The cost of a ration made up of the ordinary grains and coarse 
fodders has been investigated by at least three of the American experi- 
ment stations. The Massachusetts Hatch Station 6 ' recorded the kinds 
and amounts of foods consumed b} r three farm horses for five years, 
with a view to learning' the average cost of the daily feed. In the 
different years the cost of the ration, which consisted of hay, corn, oats, 
and other common feeding stuffs, varied from 18.5 to 24.8 cents per 
head daily. 

At the Oklahoma Station d statistics of the cost of feed of work 
horses were also recorded in tests of the comparative value of Kafir 
corn and maize. Red Kafir corn and maize at 20 cents per bushel, 
oats at 25 cents per bushel, and bran at 25 cents per hundredweight 
were used. The average cost per horse of a day's labor was estimated 
to be 17 cents. 

Using mixed-grain rations, according to the New Hampshire Sta- 
tion,'' the average cost of feed per horse per year was $71.32. The 
average cost for feed per hour's work performed during the two years 
covered by the test was 3.4 cents. 

The data recorded above are too limited for general deduction. 

FATTENING HORSES FOR MARKET. 

Fattening horses so that they will reach market in good condition 
for sale is quite an important industry in some regions. For instance, 
in Iowa there are a number of feeders who thus prepare large num- 

"Utah Station Bui. 13. d Oklahoma Station Rpt. 1899, p. 31. 

ft Maryland Station Bui. 51. ''New Hampshire Station Bui. 82. 

c Massachusetts Hatch Station Rpt. 1893, p. 179. 



37 

bers of horses for the Chicago market. Though few, if any, experi- 
ments have been carried on at the stations to show the feed required 
per pound of gain, the relative cost of gain, etc., J. A. Craig and 
H. W. Brettell," of the Iowa Station, have described this industry on 
the basis of data gathered from local feeders extensively engaged in it. 

The horses are usually purchased in the fall, after the farm work is 
over, and are stabled and fed an abundant ration, care being taken to 
accustom them gradually to full feed in order to avoid colic. When on 
full feed the horses studied were given, per head, 10 to 11 ears of corn 
in the morning, at noon, and again at night, with 3 quarts of oats and 
bran 1:2 and hay ad libitum in the middle of the forenoon and also in 
the middle of the afternoon. Recognizing the importance of a long- 
period of rest, no feed was given from 6 or 7 at night until 5 o'clock 
in the morning. The horses were watered twice a day and were given 
all they would drink. On account of the large number fed, the horses 
could not be exercised, but as a rule were kept idle in the stable until 
a few days before they were marketed. To insure good condition it 
was found advantageous to give 0.5-0.75 pint Glauber salts per head 
twice a week. Oil meal, it is stated, may also be given to good advan- 
tage, as it aids greatly in putting on flesh and also makes the skin soft. 

The importance of keeping mangers and feed boxes clean is insisted 
upon, and attention is especially directed to the need of examining the 
horses' teeth and removing with a float any sharp points which would 
make the gums sore and thus prevent the horses from masticating their 
feed properly. 

With such feeding and care satisfactory gains were generally real- 
ized. In one instance, it is stated, a horse fed in this manner made a 
gain of 5.5 pounds per day for a period of fift}^ da} T s, or 550 pounds in 
one hundred days. In several instances, with as many as a dozen 
horses, a gain of 3.75 pounds per head per day was obtained through- 
out a period of ninety days. 

WATERING HORSES. 

A discussion of the subject of watering horses should take into 
account the reasons why water is needed, the amounts required, 
the proper time for watering, and related topics. 

Horses, like other animals, require water to moisten their food so 
that the digestive juices may permeate it readily, to dilute the blood 
and other fluids of the body, and for other physiological uses. It 
may be assumed that under any given normal condition the body con- 
tains a definite amount of water. When any considerable amount 
of water is lost from the body, a sensation of thirst is experienced, 
showing that more water is needed to take its place. Practically all 

"Breeders' Gaz., 35 (1899), p. 781. 



38 

the water excreted leaves the body in the feces, urine, perspiration, 
and breath. The amount eliminated in each, according to Wolff, a 
increases with the amount of water consumed, the largest amount 
being excreted in the feces. In experiments which he carried on, the 
total amount of water consumed ranged from 17.363 kilograms to 
34.272 kilograms (38.3 to 75.6 pounds). The feces contained from 
40.3 to 47.3 per cent of the total amount excreted; the urine from 
21.2 to 34.9 per cent. 

In addition to the water drunk by horses, a considerable amount is 
obtained in the more or less succulent food eaten. The amount of 
water required is influenced by a number of factors, including the 
season of the year, temperature of the surrounding air, character of 
the feed, the individual peculiarities of the horse, the amount and 
character of the work performed, and probably others. The amount 
of water needed increases with the temperature and with the amount 
of work performed, since it is very evident that both of these factors 
increase the amount which is given off from the body in the form of 
perspiration. Muscular work also increases the amount of water 
vapor excreted in the breath. According to Grandeau and Leclerc, 6 
a horse used in one of their experiments, when at rest, evaporated 6.4 
pounds of water per day; when walking, 8.6 pounds; when walking 
and drawing a load, 12.7 pounds; when trotting, 13.4 pounds, and 
when trotting and drawing a load, 20.6 pounds. It is evident from 
these figures that the amount of water excreted, and hence the amount 
required, varies with the work performed. 

It has been found that less water is required when the ration con- 
sists largely of concentrated feed than when large amounts of coarse 
fodder are consumed, and it is a matter of common observation that 
less water is consumed when green, succulent feeds form a consider- 
able part of the ration than when it consists of dry feed. That the 
amount of water taken, even in dry feed, may be considerable is shown 
by the fact that a ration of 12.1 pounds oats and 15.4 pounds haj 7 , 
according to Wolff's a calculation, furnishes some 4.1 pounds water. 
A succulent ration would furnish much more. In Grandeau and 
Leclerc's experiments with the Paris Cab Company's horses it was 
found that with a mixed ration the average proportion of water drunk 
to dry matter supplied was 2.1:1 when the horses were at rest, and 
3.6:1 when they were used for cab work. In some of Wolff's experi- 
ments the proportions varied from 2.35:1 to 3.5:1. The effect of the 
amount of work performed and of individual peculiarities on the 
amount of water required is illustrated by the following figures 
obtained by Grandeau and Leclerc: Two horses consumed respectively 
24.9 and 30.7 pounds of water per day when their work consisted only 

"Landw. Jahrb., 1887, Sup. 3. 
''Ann. Sci. Agron., 1888, II, p. 276. 



39 

of walking; when the horses walked and in addition drew a load, the 
amounts of water consumed were 28.9 and 35.1 pounds; when trotting 
without a load, 31.3 and 27:6 pounds, and when trotting and drawing 
a load, 52 and 50.7 pounds, respectively. 

In a number of feeding experiments carried on with horses at the 
experiment stations in the United States the amount of water con- 
sumed has been recorded. In tests at the New Hampshire Station," in 
which the ration consisted of different grain mixtures, with timothy 
hay and corn fodder, it was found that the quantity of water con- 
sumed varied from 70.9-1 pounds to 90.4 pounds per horse per day. It 
was observed that both the ration consumed and the amount of work 
performed influenced the quantity of water drunk, although the indi- 
viduality of the horse had the most marked effect. 

The amount of water consumed by horses on rations of timothy hay 
and alfalfa hay (with oats) was studied at the Utah Station. b It was 
found that on an average larger amounts were consumed with the lat- 
ter than with the former, the average amounts per day being some 
78.51 and 88.85 pounds, respectively. The greater consumption of 
water on the alfalfa ration induced a greater elimination by the kid- 
neys, but so far as could be observed this was not attended by any bad 
results nor was it found inconvenient. 

At the Oklahoma Station c a pair of mules, during hot summer 
weather, drank 113 pounds of water per head daily, and on one day the 
pair drank 350 pounds. On an average a pair of mules and horses, 
each weighing 2,130 pounds, drank 107 pounds of water per head per 
day while at moderate work. In these tests the grain ration consisted 
of Kafir corn, maize, oats, and bran. 

The proper time to, water horses is a matter concerning which 
opinions differ. Many feeders believe that they should be watered 
before feeding, while others are equally certain that feeding should 
precede watering. Experiments made on this subject at the Utah 
Station did not lead to definite conclusions. 

The subject was recently investigated by Tangl d at Budapest. The 
rations fed consisted of different mixtures of corn, oats, hay. and straw, 
and a number of experiments were made in which the only condition 
which varied was the time of watering. In some of the tests the 
horses drank before and in some after eating, and in others after the 
grain portion of the ration was eaten but before the hay. 

Regarding these experiments Professor Tangl makes in effect the 
following statement: So far as w y as observed the time of drinking had 

« New Hampshire Station Bui. 82. 
b Utah Station Bui. 77. 
c Oklahoma Station Rpt. 1899, p. 31. 

tfLandw. Vers. Stat., 57 (1902), p. 329; Twentieth Century Farmer, 1892, No. 
82, p. 1. 



40 

no effect on the digestibility of a ration of grain and hay. When hay 
only was fed there seemed to be a slight advantage in watering before 
feeding. In general, horses may be watered before, during, or after 
meals without interfering with the digestion and absorption of food. 
All these methods of watering are equally good for the horse, and each 
of them may be employed, according to circumstances. It is obvious 
that certain circumstances may make it necessary to adopt one or other 
method. For instance, after severe loss of water, such as occurs in 
consequence of long-continued, severe exertion, the animal should 
always be allowed to drink before he is fed, as otherwise he will not 
feed well. Although all methods of watering are equally good for the 
horse, it is not desirable to change unnecessarily from one method to 
another. Animals, or at least some of them, appear to be not altogether 
indifferent to Mich a change. In the experiments referred to above it 
was found that whenever a change was made from the plan of water- 
ing after feeding to that of watering before, the appetite fell off for 
some days; not that the horses did not consume the whole of the food 
given to them, but for some days together they did not eat with the 
same avidity as before, and took a longer time to consume their rations 
completely. A similar effect was not observed when the change was 
from watering before, to watering after feeding, or from watering 
after to watering during meals, or when the change was in the oppo- 
site direction to the last. It is possible that the method of watering 
before feeding, until the animal has become accustomed to it, produces 
a certain feeling of satiety. The time of drinking exercised a marked 
effect on the amount of water consumed and upon the amount of water 
excreted. The horses drank the greatest amount of water when it 
was given after feeding and the least when it was supplied before 
feeding. This was especially noticeable in the morning when water 
was sometimes refused if offered before feeding. The excretion of 
urine was directly proportional to the amount of water consumed. 
When it is desired to increase the excretion, the author recommends 
watering after feeding. The method of watering had no effect upon 
the amount or qualitative composition of the feces. Body weight 
varied with the amount of water consumed. 

DIGESTIBILITY OF FEEDING STUFFS. 

In the preceding pages reference has been made to the composition 
of different feeding stuffs and to the tests of the comparative value of 
different concentrated feeds and coarse fodders. The real value of any 
feeding stuff is determined, not alone by its composition, but also by 
its digestibility; that is, by the amount of material which it gives up 
to the body in its passage through the digestive tract. It is evident 
that if two feeding stuffs have practically the same composition, but 



41 

one gives up more material to the bod} T than the other, that is, is more 
thoroughly digested, it must actually be more valuable than the other 
material. The bulk of the substance of almost all feeding stuffs is 
insoluble when eaten. Only material in solution can pass through the 
walls of the stomach and intestines into the circulation and be utilized 
by the body, therefore digestibility consists chiefly in rendering insol- 
uble materials soluble. This is effected by the aid of digestive fer- 
ments and also b} r bacteria. 

Digestion experiments are frequently made to learn how thoroughly 
a given feeding stuff or ration is assimilated. The usual method is to 
feed the material under consideration for a longer or shorter time, the 
amount and composition being determined. From the total nutrients 
consumed, the amount excreted and undigested in the feces is deducted, 
showing the amount of each retained in the body. It is the usual cus- 
tom to express the amounts digested in percentages, the results thus 
obtained being termed coefficients of digestibility. 

The digestibility of a number of different feeding stuffs has been 
tested with horses in this country and in Europe, although the number 
of such experiments is much smaller than in the case of cattle and 
sheep. The most extended series of American experiments with 
horses was carried on by Patterson a at the Maryland Experiment 
Station. In the table below the American and foreign digestion 
experiments with horses are summarized. In a few cases values 
obtained with ruminants are also included in the table, since no coef- 
ficients of digestibility, obtained with horses, were available, and the 
data were needed in computing the value of rations discussed later 
(p. 4S). 

Table 2. — Summary of coefficients of digestibility obtained in experiments with horses. 



Kinds of fodder. 



Alfalfa, uncured 

Alfalfa hay 

Alfalfa (hay^ stalks 

Alfalfa (h a y) leaves 

Red clover "hay 

Meadow hay, best quality 

Meadow hay, medium quality 
Meadow hay, poor quality. . .". 

Meadow hay, average 

Timothy hay 

Corn stover b 

Ground corn shives 

Wheat straw 

Spelt straw 

Corn silage o 

Carrots 

Potatoes 

Shelled corn 



Coefficients of digestibility. 



Protein. 



cent. 
78.2 
74.6 
72.6 
75.5 
55.7 
63.5 
57. 5 
54.6 
57.1 
21.2 
64.1 
67.5 
27.7 
22. 9 
49.3 
99.3 
88.0 
57.8 





Nitrogen- 


Fat. 


free 




extract. 


Per cent. 


Per cent. 




81.0 


19.1 


70.2 




63.9 
76.6 
63.5 




28.7 


22.0 


65.5 


18.0 


58.1 


23.6 


52.2 


20.7 


56.7 


47.3 


47.3 


73.6 


68.2 


59.8 


47.0 


65.7 


28.1 


20.2 


17.9 


80.0 


68.6 




93.8 
99.4 
88.2 




47.7 



a Maryland Station Bui. 51. 

b Coefficients of digestibility of corn fodder as fed to ruminants. 

c Coefficients of digestibility as fed to ruminants. 



42 



Table 2. — Summary of coefficients of digestibility obtained in experiments villi 
horses- — Continued . 



Kinds of fodder. 



Coefficients of digestibility. 



Protein. 



Nitrogen- 
free 
extract. 



Crude 

fiber. 



Corn meal 

Oats 

Ground oats 

Wheat a 

Rye 

Cotton-seed meal <• . . . 

Field beans 

Lupine seeds 

Peas 

Wheat bran i' 

Wheat shorts^ 

Dried brewers' grains 

Gluten meal c 

Linseed meal e 

Molasses 



Pet 



cent. 
76.0 
79.6 
82.4 
79.6 
80.3 
88.4 
85.9 
94.2 
83.0 
77.8 
77.8 
79.3 
88.2 
85.2 
100.0 



Per cent. 
67.1 
72.1 
79.9 
72.1 
42.4 
93.3 
13.2 
27.3 
6.9 
68.0 
68.0 
91.1 
94.4 
96.6 



Per cent. 
93.9 
75.8 
86.1 
75.8 
87.3 
60.6 
93.6 
50.8 
89.0 
69.4 
69.4 
57.8 
89.8 
86.1 
100.0 



Per cent. 
20.2 
29.7 
14.4 
29.7 
6100.0 
55.5 
65.4 
50. 8 
8.0 
28. 6 
28.6 
52.6 



80.4 



a As oats, no coefficients of digestibility of wheat having been found. 

bThis value is without doubt much too high. 

c Coefficients of digestibility as fed to ruminants. 

d As bran, no coefficients of digestibility of shorts having been found. 

In addition to the experiments reported above, a number have been 
found on record which show the digestibility of a mixed ration, but, 
generally speaking, the total number of digestion experiments with 
horses is small and, as will be seen, the tests are limited to a compara- 
tively small number of feeding stuffs. Some 36 experiments were 
found on the digestibility of oats and 30 on the digestibility of meadow 
hay. The total number reported with alfalfa hay was 12, and in all 
other cases the number was very small. It is evident that more diges- 
tion experiments are needed with some of the common feeding stuffs, 
and that the digestibility of many additional materials should be 
studied. 

As will be seen in the majority of feeding stuffs, the percentage of 
protein digested is fairly high, greater in grains and seeds than in hay 
and grasses, and least in the case of timothy hay and spelt straw. 
The high values reported in the table for protein of carrots and 
molasses need some explanation. The percentage of protein in the 
former is comparatively small, and it is doubtful if the figures reported 
show the actual digestibility, as it is difficult to determine in the case 
of a nutrient present in small quantities. In the case of molasses, the 
greater part of the nitrogenous material consists of amids or other 
nonalbuminoid bodies. It should be remembered that neither carrots 
nor molasses is fed for protein, but rather for the carbohydrates which 
they contain. 

Generally speaking, the values obtained for the digestibility of fat 
are rather low, the fat of oats being most digestible and that of peas 
least digestible. In general it has been found that the determination 
of the coefficients of the digestibility of fat presents more difficulty 
than that of other nutrients. 



43 

It will be seen that nitrogen-free extract is quite thoroughly assim- 
ilated, the values ranging from 100 per cent in the case of molasses to 
17.9 per cent in the case of spelt straw. The high value obtained for 
the digestibility of this nutrient in molasses is doubtless due to the 
fact that carbohydrates exist in it in soluble forms and hence in a con- 
dition very favorable for assimilation. Possibly the comparatively 
small amount of crude fiber present in carrots and potatoes accounts 
for the high digestibility of the starch which makes up the greater 
part of the nitrogen -free extract of the e feeds. The principal sources 
of nitrogen-free extract in the ration are the cereal grains and their 
by-products, and it is interesting to note that the coefficients of digest- 
ibility of nitrogen-free extract of these materials is high. In the 
majority of "feeding stuffs the crude fiber is not very thoroughly 
digested, the coefficients of digestibility being on an average less than 
50 per cent. The high value given in the above table for the crude 
fiber of rye is unusual, and should be confirmed by further experiments 
before it can be accepted. 

The digestibility of the different materials which make up the car- 
bohydrate group has been recently studied by Weiser and Zalischek" 
with horses and other farm animals. The following table shows the 
results obtained with a horse fed different combinations of meadow 
hay, broom-corn seed, and oats. 

Table .">. — Digestibility <>/ different carbohydrates by <i horse. 



Cellulose 

or crude 

liber. 



s.i pounds meadow hay and 10.8 pounds broom- 
Ci nil seed 

7 pounds meadow hay, 6.6 pounds broom-corn 
seed, and 6.6 pounds oats 

8.3 pounds meadow hay and 7.7 pounds oats 



/'< r '-'ill. 
45.6 



30.5 

48.7 



Starch. 



Per <■< nt. 
84.9 



97.7 
96.7 



Pento- 
sans. 



Per cent. 
53. 2 



33.8 
49.7 



Undeter- 
mined 
constitu- 
ents. 



Per <•' /''. 
35.8 



34.0 
57.0 



Total ni- 
trogen- 
free 
extract. 



Per cent. 
70.3 



70.9 
72.0 



As will be observed, the starch is much more thoroughly digested 
than the other carbohydrates. In all the experiments the values 
obtained for digestibility of the group, "nitrogen -free extract," were 
comparativel} T low. The authors attribute this to the presence of the 
material called "•undetermined constituents," and advance the opinion 
that this material does not consist of carbohydrates though included 
in this group by the ordinary analytical methods. The thoroughness 
with which the different members of the carbohydrate group were 
digested by the horse and other farm animals is discussed in the fol- 
lowing section. 



«Arch. Physiol. [Pfluger], 93 (1902), p. 98. 



44 



COMPARATIVE DIGESTIBILITY BY HORSES AND RUMINANTS. 

In computing the digestible nutrients furnished by different feeding 
stuffs, it has been a common custom to use available data obtained from 
digestion experiments with farm animals without distinguishing 
between ruminants and nonruminants. although differences had been 
pointed out by a number of observers. The extended investigations 
of Wolff'' and his associates on the comparative digestive power of 
horses and sheep furnished much information on the subject. Dietrich 
and Konig ?/ summarized the available data regarding the question and 
discussed it. The matter was also considered in the summary pre- 
pared by Jordan and Hall/' 

The following table compares the coefficients of digestibility obtained 
with ruminants (chiefly sheep) and horses, the values given being the 
average of a large number of European and American experiments. 



Table 4.- 



-Comparison of digestibility of a number of different feeding stuffs by ruminants 

and horses. 



Feeding stuffs. 


Num- 
ber of 
experi- 
ments. 


Protein. 


Fat. 


Nitro- 
gen- 
free ex- 
tract. 


Crude 
fiber. 


Meadow hay: 


178 
30 


Per ct. 
58.6 
57.1 


Per ct. 
53.6 
20.7 


Per ct. 
63.5 
56.7 


Per et. 
60.9 




39. 7 










1.5 


32.9 


6.8 


21.2 








Timothy hay: 

Ruminants 

Horses 


o 6 


48.1 
21.2 


52. 7 

47^3 


64.0 
47.3 


46.6 
42.6 






26.9 


5.4 


16.7 


4.0 









Red-elover hay: 


56 
5 


58. 6 

55. 7 


57.2 
28.7 


65.7 
63.5 


50.0 




37.4 










2.9 


28.5 


2.2 


12.6 








Alfalfa hay: 


32 
12 


72.7 
74.6 


48.8 
19.1 


66.6 
70.2 


43.7 




39.0 










-1.9 


29.7 


-3.6 


4.7 








Wheat straw: 


3 
6 


23.4 
27.7 


35.6 
65.7 


38.7 
28.1 


55.5 




17.7 










-4.3 


-30.1 


10.6 


37.8 









Ground corn shives: 


9 
2 


46.7 
67.5 


78.2 
59.8 


60.4 
47.0 


57.0 




54.6 










-20.8 


18.4 


13.4 


2.4 








Oats: 


19 
36 


79.0 
79.6 


84.9 
72.1 


76. 3 
75.8 


30.2 




29.7 






Difference 




-0.6 


12.8 


0.5 


0.5 









aLoc. cit., p. 60. 

l> Zusammensetzung und Verdaulichkeit der Futtermittel, 

"U S.Dept. Agr., Office of Experimental Stations Bui. 77. 



ed., vol. 2, pp. 1070, 1128. 



45 



Table 4. — Comparison of digestibility of a number of different /reding stuff's by ruminants 

and horses — Continued. 



Feeding stuffs. 


Num- 
ber of 
experi- 
ments. 


Protein. 


Fat. 


Nitro- 
gen- 
free ex- 
tract. 


Crude 
fiber. 


Corn meal: 


13 
4 


Per ct. 
71.1 
76.0 


Per et. 
92. 1 
67.1 


Per ct. 
94.3 
93.9 


Per ct. 

53.8 




20. 2 










-4.9 


25.3 


0.4 


33.6 








Field beans: 


18 
5 


88.1 
85.9 


86.7 
13.2 


91.6 
93.6 


71.9 




65.4 










2.2 


73.5 


-2.0 


6.5 








Potatoes: 


11 


56.1 
88.0 


2.4 


90.3 
99.4 




Horses 


1 


9.1 




-31.9 


2.4 


-9.1 


-9.1 







As it will be seen in nearly every case the ruminants digested a larger 
percentage of fat, carbohydrates, and crude liber than horses, the differ- 
ences being most marked in the case of the crude fiber. These results, 
are, it seems fair to say, in accord with what might be expected from 
differences in the digestive organs of the different classes of animals. 
The ruminants have an opportunit} T to chew their food more thoroughly 
than horses and retain it longer in the digestive tract. It is said that 
on an average horses retain their food 4 daj^s or less; cattle, 3 or 4 to 
7 or 8 days; sheep or goats from 3 or 4 days with ordinary rations to 
7 or 8 da} T s when straw is eaten. That the food is actually more finely 
divided by ruminants in chewing and digesting is indicated by the 
mechanical condition of the feces; those from horses containing an 
abundance of fairly large fragments of hay and other coarse fodders, 
etc., while the feces of cattle commonlj' contain undigested residue in 
a finer state of division. In the case of sheep the feces contain the 
undigested residue in still smaller fragments. It is well known that 
fineness of division is an important factor in considering the thorough- 
ness of digestion. The length of time any given food material remains 
in the digestive tract is also important. It is perhaps generall} T believed 
that crude fiber is chiefly digested by the action of bacteria in the 
intestine and it is obvious that the longer materials remain in the intes- 
tine the greater the opportunity for the action of such micro-organisms. 

Weiser and Zalischek," in their investigation of the digestibility of 
the different constituents of the carbohydrate group, report results 
obtained with a horse and other farm animals. In nearly every case 
the rations were made up of different combinations of meadow hay, 
broom-corn seed, and oats. It is interesting to compare the average 
digestibilit} 7 by different farm animals of the constituents into which 

«Loc. cit. 



46 

the carbohydrate group was divided. In the case of pentosans a steer 
digested on an average 63.4, sheep 53.6, horse 45.5, and swine 47.9 
per cent. In the case of crude fiber the values were, steer 56, sheep 
55.1, horse 40.6, and swine 22.8 per cent. The values for starch were, 
for a steer 96.6, sheep 89.4, horse 93.1, and swine 98.3. The values 
for the undetermined constituents were, for a steer 44.8, sheep 32.9, 
horse 42.3, and swine 28 per cent, and for total nitrogen-free extract, 
steer 74.7, sheep 68.5, horse 71.1, and swine 85.6 per cent. As will 
be observed the horse, generally speaking, digested different carbo- 
hydrates less thoroughly than the ruminants but more thorough^ than 
the swine. 

The fact that, other things being equal, horses digest their feed less 
thoroughly than cattle, i. e., retain less nutritive material from any 
given ration when it passes through the digestive tract, has been long 
recognized. For this reason horse manure is richer than manure from 
cattle. In other words, the horse manure contains a larger proportion 
of the ration than cow manure, and hence, more of the nitrogen and 
mineral matter, especially phosphoric acid and potash, originally pres- 
ent in the ration. Investigations carried on by I. P. Roberts, G. C. 
Watson, and others at the New York Cornell Station" have to do with 
this subject. 

The value of the manure produced by horses was studied by Armsby b 
at the Pennsylvania Station. Observations made with a number of 
horses indicate that a horse produces annually about 12,700 pounds of 
fresh manure, not including the amount dropped while at work. This 
quanthVy, which would be worth about $13.50 as fertilizer, would 
require the use of about 2,500 pounds of straw for bedding. According 
to the author's calculations a ton of wheat straw economically used for 
bedding horses may result in 6 tons of fresh manure, although in gen- 
eral practice the amount is not likely to exceed 5 tons and may be 
much less if few animals are kept or the manure is infrequently 
removed. 

RATIONS ACTUALLY FED AND FEEDING STANDARDS. 

The amount of the different feeding stuffs required and hence the 
quantity of nutrients supplied to horses maj^ be learned by observa- 
tion or experiment or a combination of the two methods. Doubtless 
all practical horse feeders supply rations which they believe are suited 
to their horses' needs, and in stables where horses are fed in any con- 
siderable number economj^ demands that the amount fed shall be fixed 
and not vary according to the wishes of the feeder. When the feed- 
ing stuffs used are weighed and the condition of the horses is noted, a 

a See especially New York Cornell Station Bill. 56, p. 169. 
t> Pennsylvania Station Rpt. 1892, p. 79. 



47 

feeding experiment results. Using average values obtained from 
many more or less complicated feeding experiments and other investi- 
gations, so-called feeding standards have been devised which are 
designed to show the amount of the different nutrients required per 
day for various conditions of work and rest. For the sake of uni- 
formity, the standards are usually calculated on the uniform basis of 
1,000 pounds live weight. The feeding standards show the amount of 
protein, fat, and carbohydrates required daity, and often the nutritive 
ratio also; that is, the ratio of protein to the sum of the carbohydrates 
and 2. 25 times the fat. It is also possible to express the feeding standards 
in terms of protein and energy, since the functions of food, as pre- 
viously stated, are to build and repair tissue and supply energy, 
protein alone serving for the former purpose, while all the nutrients 
yield energy. The best known feeding standards for horses and other 
farm animals are those computed b}' Wolff and revised by Lehmann. 

Very frequently so-called standards for horses have been proposed 
which have shown the quantities of feeding stuffs required; for instance, 
the pounds of oats and hay needed per day per 1,000 pounds live 
weight. Such standards, or more properly standard rations, have 
been adopted in many countries for army horses, and in other cases 
where large numbers of horses are fed under uniform conditions. The 
digestible nutrients furnished by such standard rations can be calcu- 
lated by the aid of tigures showing the average composition and diges- 
tibility of the feeding stuffs. Such calculations have been often made, 
especially by earlier investigators, on the basis of data secured by 
digestion experiments with ruminants. However, this method can not 
give the most satisfactory results. If possible, coefficients of digesti- 
bility obtained in experiments with horses should be used. 

Standard rations and feeding standards have been proposed by 
Grandeau and Leclerc, Lavalard, and others. These French investi- 
gators based their recommendations chiefly on investigations with the 
horses of the Paris cab companies and the French army. The work 
extended over a number of years and thousands of horses were 
included. In connection with the work the digestibility of the ration 
was determined. 

In compiling this bulletin letters were addressed to express com- 
panies, cab companies, tire companies, and other organizations in dif- 
ferent cities of the United States using large numbers of horses, 
requesting information regarding the rations fed. Information was 
also secured regarding the average weight of the horses. Similar 
values regarding horses fed by a number of cab companies, etc., in 
foreign countries were compiled from available published data. The 
rations fed army horses in the United States and other countries were 
also learned by correspondence and by compilation from various 



48 

sources and included for purposes of comparison as were also data 
regarding- the rations fed in a large number of experiments carried on 
at the experiment stations in this country, only those tests being 
selected in which the horses maintained their weight. 

No attempt has been made to gather statistics regarding race horses, 
hunters, fancy coach and driving horses, and similar animals, as the 
main purpose of the table was to learn the value of the rations fed farm 
and other work horses in this country. The table below shows the 
nutrients furnished per 1,000 pounds live weight by these rations and 
also the calculated digestible nutrients and the total energy supplied by 
them. In most cases the values for digestible nutrients were calcu- 
lated by the aid of coefficients of digestibility obtained in experiments 
with horses and referred to on a preceding page (41). From the data 
thus collected the average quantities of nutrients furnished by the 
rations of horses performing like amounts of work were calculated. 
For purposes of comparison the Wolff-Lehmann feeding standards are 
also included in the table as well as standards or averages proposed by 
Lavalard and a number of other investigators. 

Table 5. — Rations actually fed to horses and digestible nutrients and energy in rations 
calculated to basis of 1,000 pounds live weight. 



ARMY HORSES. 

United States: 

Cavalry 

Artillery 

Mules 

Great Britain: 

In quarters 



In camp . 
Cabs 



Lbs. 

1,050 
1,125 
1,025 

1,125 

1,125 
1,125 



With extra issue. . . ] 1, 125 
}l,02E 



Mules (h eavy 
work). 

Mules in camp j 

Small mules 

Small mules in 
camp. 

Registered horses. . 



1,025 
850 

1} 8l 
I 1,125 



Rations 
actually fed. 



Nutrients in ration per 
1,000 pounds live 
weight. 



Pounds. 

/Oats, 12... 
\Hav, 14... 
I Oats, 12... 
(Hay, 14.... 

/Oats, 9 

\Hay, 14... 

| Oats, 10... 
^Hav, 12... 
Istraw, 8 . . 
/Oats, 12. . . 
\Hay, 12... 

Oats, 10. . . 

Hay, 12... 

Oats, 12... 

Hav, 12. . . 

Straw, 8 . . 

Oats, 10... 

Hay, 12... 

Straw, 8 . . 
/Oats, 12. . . 
\Hay, 12... 
fOats, 5.... 
■^Hay, 10... 
[Straw, 13 . 

/Oats, 6 

\Hav, 12... 
/Oats, 18. . . 
\Hay, 10... 



Lbs. 






. ii 

.00 
1.84 



2.31 



2.04 



Lbs. 

0.90 

.84 
.78 



Lbs. 

12.82 
11.96 
11.39 



.84 12.42 

.80 10.76 

. 71 1 9. 72 

.92 13.46 

.92 13.63 

.88| 11.81 

.86: 14.24 



1.02 



10. 12 
13. 12 



Lbs. 



4.95 



Digestible nutrients in 
ration per 1,000 
pounds live weight. 



Lbs. 



1.25 
4.62, 1.16 
4. 80 1. 00 



3.80 
3.61 

6.42 

6.84 

4.17 

9.21 

4.28 
3.92 



1.47 
1.32 

1.53 

1.51 

1.61 

1.26 

1.34 
1.83 



Lbs. 

0.57 
.53 

.48 



Lbs. 

8.00 
7.48 
6.88 



. 44 7. 32 



.43 
.36 



.49 

.47 

.44 

.32 
.61 



7.35 
6.57 



Lbs. Calo- 
rics. 

1.97 23,300 
1. 84 21, 750 
1. 9420, 2.50 



1.79 

1.38 
1.32 



8.11 1.84 



S.04 1.96 



8.27 


1.51 


7.14 


2.33 


6.60 


1.60 


9.28 


1.37 



21,400 

20,750 
18,650 

23,500 

23, 450 

22,750 

21,800 

19,050 
25, 800 



49 



Table 5. — Radon* actually fed (<> horses and digestible nutrients and energy in rations 
calculated to basis of 1,000 pounds live weight — Continued. 



army horses — cont'd 

France: 

Peace footing, 
maintenance ra- 
tion- 
Reserve 

Line 

Light cavalry 

Artillery and 
train. 

Mules 

War footing, main- 
tenance ration — 

Reserve 

Line 

Light cavalry 

Artillery and 
train. 
Germany: 

Heavy ration — 

Garrison 

March 



Field 

Light cavalry 
in garrison. 

Light cavalry 
on march. 

Light cavalry 
in field. 

Light ration- 
Garrison 

March 

Field 

OMNIBUS HORSES. 

France: 



Lbs. 

1,050 

1,050 

S50 
1,075 

950 

1,050 

1,050 

850 

|l, 075 

1,050 
1,050 
1,050 
J-1,050 
|l,050 
|l, 050 

1,050 
1,050 
1,050 



1,240 



1,240 



Rations 
actually fed. 



Pounds. 

f Oats, 13.01 . 
\Hay,8.82.. 
(Oats, 11.40 . 
\Hav, 7.72 . 
(Oat's, 10.36 
lHay, 6.61 . 
/Oats, 12.35 
\Hay, 8.49 . 
I Oats, 10.8 . 
\Hav, 7.5 .. 



(Oats, 14.7. 
\Hay, 8.82. 
(Oats, 13.54. 
1 Hay, 7.72.. 
(Oats, 11.76 , 
\Hav, 6.61 . . 
(Oats, 14.2., 
(Hay, 8.49 . . 



[Beans, 1.4 . 
Corn, 6.9... 
Oats, 10.1.. 
Hay, 9.1... 
Istraw, 10. 5 
Beans, 1.4. 
Corn, 8.3... 
Oats, 8.8 ... 
Hay, 7.8... 
[Straw, 11.1. 



Nutrients in ration per 
1,000 pounds live 
weight. 



Lbs. 

2.09 
1.84 

.01 
1.94 

1.94 



\ ■> 



l} 2.27 
)■ 2. LI5 

: 



1.88 
1.66 
1.70 
1.83 

1 . 58 
1.69 

1.70 
1.50 
1.54 



2.52 





U 

tuo-3 

O X 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


0.83 


10.81 


.73 


9. 50 


.80 


10.42 


. 77 


10.07 


.77 


9.99 


.90 


11.75 


.83 


10. 66 


.88 


11.39 


.86 


11.07 


.80 


11.29 


.72 


9.59 


.74 


9.77 


.77 


10.97 


.70 


9. 15 


.7.', 


9.58 


.71 


10.35 


.65 


8.66 


.68 


8.97 


.81 


16.44 


.76 


16.41 



Lbs. 



3.41 



Digestible nutrients in 

ration per 1,000 
pounds live weight. 



Lbs. 



3.58 
3.20 
3.41 



5. 19 

3.41 
3.45 
5.13 
3.33 
3.27 

5.03 
3.24 
3.30 



1.50 
2.99 1.31 
3.24 1 1.45 
3.19 1.39 
3.18 1.38 



1.63 

1.48 
1.59 



3. 38 1. 53 



1 . 25 
1.19 
1.22 
1.21 
1.13 
1.21 

1.10 
1.07 
1.10 

1.73 





o 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


0.49 


7.56 


.43 


6.65 


.47 


7.32 


.45 


7.03 


.44 


6.98 


.54 


8.28 


.50 


7.52 


.54 


8.05 


.51 


7. >0 


. 50 


6. 81 


.48 


6. 36 


. 49 


6.50 


.48 


6. 57 


.4(1 


6.04 


.49 


6.45 


.44 


6.11 


.42 


5.66 


.44 


5.90 


.44 


10.55 


.42 


10.60 



Lbs. 
1.21 
1.06 
1.11 
1.13 



!»C 



Calo- 
ries. 

21, 150 
18, 550 
20, 400 
19, 650 



1.1319,500 

1. 2623, 050 
1. 12 20, 900 
1. 19 22, 400 
1.18 21,700 



1.3319,550 
. 93 17, 800 
.9418,150 

1.31 18,950 
. 90 16, 950 
. 90 17, 950 



1.29 
.88 
.89 



17, 650 
15, 900 
16, 550 



27, 350 



1. 31 27, 000 



1735)9— No. 125—03 4 



50 

Table 5. — Rations actually fed to horse* and digestible nutrients and energy in rations 
calculated to basis of 1,000 pounds live weight — Continued. 



OMNIBUS HOKSES- 

continued. 



France — C< »ntinued. 



Paris, 1884 . 



Paris, 1885 . 



Paris, 1886 . 



Average 



STREET-CAR HORSES. 

Great Britain: 

London 



Liverpool 



Glasgow . 



Lublin 



Various European 
cities: 



Brussels 



Bordeaux, winter . 
Bordeaux, summer 

Hamburg 



Lbs. 



1,240 



1,210 



Nutrients in ration per 
1,000 pounds live 
weight. 



Rations 
actually fed. 



Pounds. 



[Beans, 1.4 
Bran, 0.9. . 

Corn, 8.5.. 

Oats, 8.7.. 

Hay, 8.5.. 
[Straw, 8.7. 
[Beans, 0.9 

Bran, 0.8 . 
ICorn, 11.3. 

Oats, 0.2 .. 
I Hay, 8.5 . . 
[Straw, 8.4. 
(Beans, 0.1 

Bran, 0.5 . 

i •MfvJ Corn ' 13 -■ 
1,24( M Oats, 5.5.. 
Hay, 8.6 .. 

[Straw, 7.3. 

fCorn, 10.8. 

I Oats, 8.1.. 

jHav. 8.7.. 

[Straw, 8.2. 



1, 240 1 



1,150 



1,150 



1,150 



1,150 
1,150 
1,150 

1,150 



ICorn, 7 ... 
Oats, 3 
Peas, 3 
Hay, 12. . . 
Straw, 1 . . 
(Beans, 4 . . 
ICorn, 12 .. 
■jBran,l ... 
[Hay, 14 . . . 
fCorn, 11 • 
Oats, 6.... 
I Bran, 0.5. . 
Hay, 8.5 . . 
(Straw, 1 .. 

ICorn, 14 . . 
Oats, 3 
Bran, 0.5. . 
Hay, 12... 



Corn, 14.3. 

Oats, 2.2 . . 

Peas, 1.1 . . 

Hay, 8.8 . . 

Straw, 2.2. 
fCorn, 7.7.. 
J Oats, 11... 

Hay, 4.4 . . 

Straw, 3.3. 
ICorn, 15.4. 
^Hay, 13.2 . 
[Straw, 1.1. 

ICorn, 11 .. 
Oats, 4.4 . . 
Hav, 13.2 . 
Straw, 1.1. 
Corn, 17.6. 
Oats, 1.7 . . 
Hay, 7.7 .. 
Straw, 4.4. 



Lbs. 



2. 65 



1.73 



Lbs. 



Lbs. 



. 69 . 16. 26 



.50 



11.23 



4.38 



Digestible nutrients 
in ration per 1,000 
pounds live weight. 



Lbs. Lbs. Lbs. 



1.75 0.43 



1.60 



1.23 



10. 82 



.40 10.88 



.15 



9.70 



Calo- 
ries. 



1 28 27,550 



27,350 



7, 000 



1.22 27,050 



1.26 



27,220 



17, 650 



22, 380 



19, 590 



21,360 



20, 480 



18, 930 



1.01! 20,430 



.69 22,030 



.71 



51 



Table 5. — Rations actually fed to horses and digestible nutri 
calculated to basis of 1,000 pounds live weight 



mis and energy in rations 
Continued. 



STREET CAR HORSES- 

continued. 



Various European 
cities — Continued. 



Munich. 



Average 



HORSES WITH LIGHT 
WORK. 

Driving horse, Wyo- 
ming station. 

Carriage horse 



Average 

Fire company horses: 
Boston, Mass 

Chicago, 111 

Portland, Me 

Albany, N. Y 



St. Lous, Mo 

New York, N. Y 



Average 

General average 
for light work. 



HORSES WITH MOD- 
ERATE WORK. 

Express horses: 

Richmond, Va. 
summer. 



Richmond, Va. 
winter. 



Jersey City ... 

Boston 

Average 



Lbs. 

1,150 

1,150 



1,400 

1,350 
1,350 



1,350 



Rations 
actually fed. 



Pounds. 



I Corn, 6.6 
Oats, 11 
Hay, 5.5 
Straw, 4.4 

fOats, 15.4 

Hay, 11 

(Straw, 2.2 



[Alfalfa, 21.25 . 
[Straw, 3.2 

Oats, 10 

[Hay, 12 



{Groundgrain, 
9.38. 
Hav, 18 

JOats, 4 

\Hay, 15 



fOats, 6... 
\Hay, 10.. 

!Oats, 12.. 
Hay, 12.. 
Straw, 10 
Oats, 10.. 
1,350!-! Bran, 2.5. 
IHay, 7... 
i o=n JOats, 12.. 



Nutrients in ration per 
1,000 pounds live 
weight. 



1.84 



1.S6 



| 2.38 
} 2.06 



2.22 



1.00 

.96 

1.58 

1.46 
1.44 



1.35 



K 



10(1 



I Corn, 4.67 
Oats, 5.33 
Bran, 0.83 .... 
Corn meal, 4. 16 
Hav, 15 

I Corn, 4.38 
Oats, 7.5 
Bran, 0.83 .... 
Corn meal, .164 
Hay, 16 

(Corn, 2 

lOats, 19 

lBran, 1.5 

(Hay, 9.5 

[Corn, 12 

{ Oats, 5.25 

lHay, 20 



2.38 



Lbs 



2.15! 



Lbs 
10. 59 
73 10.02 



.o4 



.17 



.56 



.54 



.93 



11.05 



Lbs. 



3. 39 



5.8: 

10.4: 



8.15 



6.77 
5.99 

9.30 

7.76 
8.30 



7.95 



8.00 



2.34 

3.8 



3.10 



3.50 
2.5 1 

3.42 

2.38 

2.78 



3.20 



3.18 



Digestible nutrients 
in ration per 1,000 
pounds live weight. 



Lbs. 



1.18 



1.76 
1.40 



1.58 



.78 



. 99 



3. 64 . 97 



12. 88 3. 99 



13.45 3.57 1.66 



14.96 5.32 1.28 



0. 35 



3.58 
6.97 



5.27 



.35 



13.27 4.13 1.26 .55 



3.70 
3.59 

5.91 

5.16 
5.4 



4.99 



5.06 



8.19 



Lbs. 



.91 
1.4! 



1.18 



1.45 

1.04 

1.35 

.90 

3 1.0 



1.2< 



Calo- 
ries. 

18, 800 

18, 490 
20,075 



11, 855 
19, 935 
15,895 



18, 000 

11, 365 
10, 650 

17, 050 

14, 700 

715, 550 



14,555 



14,890 



23, 750 

25, 800 
27, 000 



24.550 



52 

Table 5. — Rations actually fed to horses and digestible nutrients and energy in rations 
calculated to basis of 1,000 pounds lire weight — Continued. 



HORSES WITH MODER- 
ATE work— cont'd. 

Cab horses, United 
States. 

New York.N. Y ... 



Philadelphia, Pa ., 

Washington, D.C., 

Do 

San Francisco, Cal 



Average 

Farm horses: 

Wyoming Station . . 

New Hampshire 
Station. 



Do. 

Do. 
Do. 



Do. 
Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 



Lbs. 
1,200 

1,200 

1,200 

1,350 
1,350 



Rations 
actually fed. 



1,000 
1,235 

1,220 

1,230 
1,220 

1,250 

1,170 
1,280 

1,290 

1,230 
1,300 
1,175 
1,280 



Pounds. 

/Oats, 14 

\Hay, 10 

Corn, 17 

Oats, 9.28 

Groundgrain. 
4. 40.a 

Hay, 13.50 

Straw, 7.10 

Oats, 10 

• Corn, 6 

Hay, 23 

(Oats, 12 

1 Hay, 12 

/Oats, 8 

(Hay, 15 



/Alfalfa, 13.75 . 
\Straw, 2.25.... 

I Bran, 2 
Corn, 6 
Gluten meal, 6 
Hay, 10 ... . 
I Bran, 2 
Corn, 6.... 
Oats, 8 
Hav, 10 ... . 
f Hay, 10.... 
{Bran, 7 .... 
[Corn, 8 .... 
[Corn, 8 . . . . 
•JLinseedmeal,4 
[Hay.lO 

IBran, 2 
Corn, 8 
Cotton-seed 
meal, 1. 
Hay, 10 

IBran, 2 
Corn, 6 
Oats, 8 
Hay, 10 

(Bran, 7 

{Corn, 8 

(Hay, 10 

ICorn stover, 6 
Hav, 6 
Corn, 7 
Oats, 4 
Bran, 3 

fHay,12 

{Oats, 7 

(Corn, 7 

[Corn stover, 12 

{Oats, 7 

[Corn, 7 

{Corn stover, 12 
Bran, 7 .... 
Corn, 7 

[Hay, 12.... 
{Bran, 7 .... 
lCorn,7 



Nutrients in ration per 
1,000 pounds live 
weight. 



Lbs. 
l.ffi 



2. 50 



1.58 
1.39 



1.88 



1.85 
2.37 

2.03 

2.03 
2.35 

1.73 



1.96 

1.74 

1.85 
1.56 
1.94 

1.98 



\ 

Lbs. 
0.79 

.82 

1.12 

.6 
.59 



.so 



.14 
.93 

.86 

.78 
.66 

.71 



.66 
.67 

.75 



Lbs. 
10.72 



12. 13 



9.30 

8.87 



11.51 



6.27 
10.49 

11.92 

11. 21 
9.46 

9.11 



10.44 

11.75 

9. 87 

10.57 

10.97 



Us. 
3.53 

4.13 



3.42 
4.00 



4.30 



3.26 

3.00 
2.80 

2. 65 



3.50 
2.45 
2.67 
3.33 



Digestible nutrients 
in ration per 1,000 
pounds live weight. 



Us. 

1.20 



.95 






Lbs. 



Lbs. 



0. 53 7. 06 



Lbs. 

1.37 



50 8.05 1.64 



.42 



. 70 . 36 
1.06 .4!t 



1.37 .03 

1.59 .64 

1. 21 . 50 



.36 



1.14 .40 



1.01 
1.04 
1.30 
1.11 



.46 

.40 
.39 

.40 



5.91 
5.21 



2.60 

1.35 
1.64 



r.33 1.72 



tao-/ 

■5c 

c'B 
a 

be 



Calo- 
ries. 



17,050 
15, 550 



!0,860 



4.03 

7.47 

8.18 



7.59 

8.14 

7.72 
8.07 
7.38 



8,240 
21, 465 

21,880 

20, 275 
19, 000 

16, 915 



1.10 19,545 

1.40 20,360 

1.37j 21,510 

1.49 21,005 

1.63 22,105 

1.30[ 19,900 



a Corn meal and bran, 3.07: 1.33. 



53 

Table 5. — Rations actually fed to horses and digestible nutrients and energy in rations 
calculated to basis of 1,000 pounds live weight — Continued. 



HORSES WITH MODER- 
ATE work — cont'd. 

Farm horses — cont'd. 

New Hampshire 
Station. 



Rations 
actually fed. 



Nutrients in ration per 
1,000 pounds live 
weight. 



New Jerscv Station 



Do. 



Do. 



MassachusettsSta- 
tion. 



Do. 



Utah Station 



Do. 
Do. 

Do. 



}l,275 



1,000 



1,000 



1,180 



1,100 



1,100 



1,080 



1,090 



1,125 



Pounds. 

[Hav, 12 

I Corn, 7 

]Oats,4 

(Bran, 3 

(Hav, 12 

J Corn, 7 

[Oats, 7 

IHay, 6 
Bran, 2j 
Corn, if 
Dried brewers 
grain, 8$. 
IHay, 6 
Bran, 2\ 
Corn,4f 
Oats, S f 

(Hay, 8 

I Corn meal, 6. 25 
(Dried brewers' 
[ grain, 6.15. 

IHay, 8 
Corn meal, 6. 55 
Linseed meal, 
5.40. 

Hay, 18 

Wheat bran, 2. 

Provender, 6= 
crushed 
corn, 2.73; 
oats, 3.27. 

Hay, 20 

Wheat bran, 2. 

Provender, 6= 
crushed 
corn, 2.73; 
oats, 3.27. 

Hay, 15 

Wheat bran, 2. 

Provender, 4= 
crushed 
corn, 1.73; 
oats, 2.27. 

Hay, 15 

Wheat bran, 3. 

Provender, 6= 
crushed 
corn, 2.73; 
oats, 3.27. 

{Timothy hav, 
25.8. 
Corn, 23.7 

I Clover hay, 
26.1. 
Oats, 11.8 
Wheat, 11.8... 
I Clover hav, 
22.4. 
Oats, 9.7 
Wheat, 9.7.... 
f Timothy hav, 
22.4. 
Corn, 19.4 

I Alfalfa hav, 
24.5. 
Bran and 
shorts (1:1), 
10. 



Lbs. 



3.21 



2. 23 



Lbs. 



.76 



1.53 



2.44 



Digestible nutrients in 
ration per 1,000 
pounds live weight. 



Lbs. Lbs. Lbs, 



3.36 



2. 82 



5.25 



1.03 0.42 



2. 22 . 65 



1.45 .56 8.65 



.85 



1.43 



. 41 6. 85 

.61 18.60 
.60 15.36 



.53 



13. 67 



Lbs 



1.25 



Calo- 
ries. 



19, 620 



2.3' 



1.85 

2.68 
2. 53 

2.30 

2.18 



19,250 
19, 425 

20, 385 
21, 705 
10,200 

19, 660 

14, 815 
42, 040 

36, 520 
35, 115 



1.88 24,580 



54 

Table 5. — Rations actually fed to horses and digestible nutrients and energy in rations 
calculated to basis of 1 ,000 pounds live weight — Continued. 



Rations 
actually fed. 



HOUSES WITH MODER- 
ATE work— cont'd. 



Farm horses — cont'd. 
Utah Station 



Do. 



Do. 



Do. 

Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 



Virginia Station. 



Average 

General average 
for moderate 
work. 



Farm mules, Virginia 
Station. 



Do. 
Do. 



Lbs. 

1,370 

1,325 
1,420 
1,400 
1,400 

1,120 

1,230 

1,235 
1,385 
1,385 
1,420 

1,460 
1,155 



}l,310 
1,190 



Poumls. 

Alfalfa hay, 

25. 
Bran and 

shorts (1:1), 

10. 
Timothy hay, 

22.8. 
Bran and 

shorts (1:1), 

10. 
Timothy hay, 

23.5. 
Bran and 

shorts (1:1), 

12.2. 
Alfalfa hay, 

24.5. 
Bran and 

shorts (1:1), 

12.2. 
Alfalfa hay, 

25. 
Bran and 

shorts (1:1), 

14.6. 
Alfalfa hay, 

16. 
Bran and 

shorts (1:1), 

12.6. 
Timothy hay, 

13.7. 

Oats, 12 

Alfalfa hay, 

14.7. 

Oats, 11.5 

Alfalfa hay, 

19.7. 
Alfalfa 

19.9. 
Alfalfa 

32.6. 
fHay, 19.3 .... 
JCom, 11.3.... 
)Corn silage, 
I 23.1. 

/Hay, 16 

\Corn, 14.1.... 



hay, 
hay, 



Hay, 15.2.... 
Corn, 10.5.... 
Corn silage, 

10.5. 
Hay, 14.5.... 
Corn, 9.2 

I Hay, 9.8 
Corn, 6.1 
Corn silage, 
12.2. 



Nutrients in ration per 
1,000 pounds live 
weight. 



Lbs. IJ>s. 



3.75 

1.81 

2.80 
2.04 
2.06 
3.28 

1.95 
1 2.10 



2.46 
2.38 



.75 



Lbs. Ids, 



11.83 5.16 



5.61 



13.39 

12.32 

10.84 

10.65 
6.07 
6.14 
9 

13.70 
14.73 



11.92 

11.09 



12. 00 
10.86 
10.29 



Digestible nutrients 
in ration per 1,000 
pounds live weight. 



Lbs. 



4.66 
3.56 
3.59 

5.74 

4.92 

4.28 



4.05 
4.08 



4.00 
3.70 
3.61 



2.15 
1.52 
1.54 
2.45 

.81 
.92 



1.57 
1.49 



.72 
.62 
.61 



a 3 

0) g 



Lbs. 



. 44 6. 82 



.38 9. 36 



. 38; 8. 60 



. 48 6. 79 



.38 7. 79 



.06 
.06 
.10 

.49 

.48 



.40 
.42 



4.26 
4.31 

6. 88 

9.18 
10.44 



8.09 
8.09 



8. 22 
7.34 
6.96 



1.65 

1.42 
1.39 

1.40 
2.24 

2.25 
1.71 



1.62 
1.63 



1.75 
1.50 
1.65 



Calo- 
ries. 



25, 480 



20, 345 



21,015 



28, 555 

25, 615 

19,700 

22, 715 
16,435 
13, 740 
21, 940 

24, 815 

26, 335 



!2,760 
!2,710 



21,655 
19,030 
18,670 



55 

Table 5. — Rations actually fed to horses and digestible nutrients and energy in rations 
calculated to basis of 1,000 pounds live weight — Continued. 





a) 
in 

o 
A 

o 

2 

'3 


Rations 
actually fed. 


Nutrients in ration per 
1,000 pounds live 
weight. 


Digestible nutrients 
in ration per 1,000 
pounds live weight. 


3 
o 




'3 
o 

Ph 




be- 1 


u 
<D 
fit 

■a 

M 

o 


'3 
o 

3h 


£ 


9 

? « 

be t. 


o 


3 

'" 3 

5) 
<D 

a 


HORSES WITH MODER- 
ATE work— cont'd. 

Farm mules, Virginia 
Station. 

Do 


Lbs. 

[■1,080 

1,275 
1,226 


Pounds. 

/Hay, 13.4 

ICorn, 11.8 
fHay, 15.6 

|Corn silage, 
1 14.6. 
/Hay, 11.7 
(Corn, 9.9 


Lbs. 

\ 1.88 

| 1. 84 
J- 1.41 


Lbs. 
0.90 

. 88 

.07 


Lbi. 

13.18 

12.96 
9.93 


Lbs. 

3.83 

4.38 
2.94 


Lbs. 
0.82 

.78 

.61 


Lbs. 
0.44 

.46 

.32 


Lbs. 

9.34 

8.84 
7.00 


Lbs. 
1.54 

1.96 

1.18 


Calo- 
ries. 

23, 510 
23, 480 


Do 


17.700 








1.64 


.78 


11.54 


3.74 


.69 


.39 


7.96 


1.60 20,675 




|l,500 

|l,500 

1,^00 
1,600 
|l,600 

|l, 600 


/Oats, 7.6 

lHav,20 

(Oats, 2 

J Bran, 2.5 

lOil meal, 0.2. . 

[Hay,20 

/Oats, 15 

may, 12 

/Oats, 23 

\Hay, 12 

/Oats, 19 

[Hay,13 

(Oat's, 12.5 

Com, 6.75 

{Ground grain, 

a 4. 
[Hav,10 




HORSES WITH SEVERE 
WORK. 

Truck and draft horses: 
Chicago, 111., daily 
ration. 

Chicago, 111., holi- 
day ration. 

SouthOmaha,Nebr. 

New York, N. Y 

Washington, D. C, 

summer. 

Washington, ]>.('., 
winter. 


} 1.38 

1 1.25 

1 1.65 
J- 2.14 
1 1.88 

I 1.93 


.58 

.47 

.70 
.91 

.7'J 

.81 


8.99 

7.74 

9.57 
11.96 
10.74 

11.19 


4.34 

4.16 

3.27 
3.54 
3.49 

2.83 


.64 

.53 

1.04 
1.44 
1.21 

1.25 


.34 

.26 

.45 
.61 
.53 

.51 


5. 11 

4.11 

6.23 
S.10 
7.11 

8.16 


1.79 

1.75 

1.27 
1.33 
1.34 

1.03 


15,450 

13,000 

17,800 
22, 800 
20,200 

21,550 




1.80 


.76 


10.49 


3.49 


1.1'2 


.49 


6.94 


1.3519,560 


ting holiday 
ration). 

Draft horses, heavy, 
hard work. S i d - 
ney's estimate. 

FARM HORSES, 8ETTE- 
GAST'S ESTIMATE. 


k ooo 

1,250 
1,260 
1,250 


[Beans, 6 

JOats,13 

1 Corn, 3 

[Clover, 15 

(Oats, 8 

{Hay, 7.5 

[Straw, 3 

fOats, 10 

{Hay, 10 

[Straw, 3 

[Oats, 13 

{Hay, 12 

[Straw, 3 


I 3. 87 

I 1. 29 
[ 1.64 
| 2. 04 


.75 

.50 
.63 
.79 


11.72 

7.45 
9.23 
11.31 


3.11 

2.83 
3.50 
4.16 


1.94 

.87 
1.11 
1.40 


.28 

.29 
.35 
.45 


5.86 

4. 61 
5.80 
7.24 


1.56 
.yi 

1.17 
1.40 


is, 590 
13, 10 J 


Moderate work 


16, 500 
20, 550 




FEEDING STANDARDS 
AND AVERAGE RA- 
TIONS. 

Light work, Wolff- 










1.5 
2.0 
2.5 


.40 
.60 
.80 


9 


5 


22, 150 


Lehmann. 
Medium work, Wolff- 














11.0 
13.3 


26, 700 


Lehmann. 
Heavy work, Wolff- 














32, 750 


Lehmann. 

















« Bran, cornmeal, and cut hay 2 : 1.6 : 4. 



56 



Taisle 5. — Rations actually fed to home* and digestible nutrients and energy in rations 
calculated to basis of 1,000 pounds lire weight — Continued. 





o 

V. 

u 

o 
A 

3 

'8 


Rations 
actually fed. 


Nutrients in ration per 
1,000 pounds live 
weight. 


Digestible nutrients in 
ration per 1,000 
pounds live weight. 


3 

en 




'8 
© 


a 


u 

o x 

u 0) 

Lbs. 


a) 

o 


'5 



Pi 




o> 
O X 


a) 

O 


se 

4) 

w 


FEEDING STANDARDS 
AND AVERAGE RA- 
TIONS — continued . 


Lbs. 


Pounds. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Z6s. 


2.14 
1.95 

1.60 

1.10 
1.30 

1.58 


£6s. 

.52 

.44 
.40 

22 


L6s. 

11 


£6s. Cato- 

1 n'es. 

15 26.900 


ate work, original, 
Grandeau. 














9. 93 23, 950 


ate work, modified, 
Grandeau. 














12. 14 '27. 200 


Lawes & Gilbert's 
computation. 














oll.O 
a H.0 

5.27 
5.06 

7.33 

8.09 
8.09 
7.95 

6.94 


22, 510 


lard. 














22.880 


AMERICAN EXPERI- 
MENTS. 

Horses with light 
work: 














1.18 


15. 895 
















.99 


.32 


1. 24 14. 890 


Horses with moderate 
work: 
Express and cab 
horses. 














1.06 

1.57 

1.49 

.69 

1.12 


.49 

.40 
.42 
.39 

.49 


1.72 

1.62 
1.63 
1.60 

1.35 


20, 860 














22, 760 
















22, 710 
















20, 675 


work: Farm mules. 














19, 560 


work: Truck and 
draft horses. 

















a This value represents total carbohydrates plus 2.25 times the fat. 

The figures in the above table, showing the amounts eaten by army 
horses in the United States and other countries and by horses belong- 
ing to cab companies, etc., in foreign countries, were compiled from 
various sources, though in man} 7 cases the data have been recalculated, 
using, as previously noted, the values for composition and digestibility 
included in Tables 1 and 2. These figures are included chiefly for pur- 
poses of comparison with those showing the nutrients and energy in 
the ration of American work horses, especially those used by cab com- 
panies, express companies, and other private firms, and by farmers in 
different regions of the United States. 

It will be noticed that the number of feeding stuffs used in making 
up the rations fed is not large, oats and corn being the common grains, 
and hay, usually timothy, the common coarse fodder. The amounts 
of nutrients and energy in the different rations of the horses making 
up the different groups varied within rather wide limits, which is not 
surprising when it is remembered that the horses were fed under many 



57 

different conditions and by a large number of feeders whose opinions 
regarding what constituted a proper ration naturally differed. Taken 
as a whole it does not seem unfair to assume that the figures are rea- 
sonably trustworthy, since it is highly probable that the private firms 
fed their horses rations which experience had shown were satisfactory 
and in the case of the farm horses, which were without exception fed 
at the experiment stations under controlled conditions, the rations 
were undoubtedly adequate, since the only results included are those of 
feeding tests in which the horses maintained their weight. As will be 
seen, the average values for the protein and energy in the rations of 
the horses performing light work are considerably less than similar 
values for horses performing moderate work. The data for the for- 
mer group is much more limited than for the latter, but the relation is 
in accord with the commonly accepted theories. The farm mules con- 
sumed a ration furnishing less protein and practically the same amount 
of energy as horses performing similar work, though the tests with 
mules are too few for general deductions. The rations of the truck 
and draft horses performing severe muscular work furnished less pro- 
tein and energy on an average than the rations of the horses with mod- 
erate work. This is not in accord with commonly accepted theories 
and may be explained in part perhaps by the fact that the data for the 
group performing severe work is much less extended than that for 
the group performing moderate work. There is every reason to sup- 
pose that the truck and draft horses received rations sufficient for 
their needs, as the firms owning them are known to make the effort to 
maintain their horses in good condition. Such truck and draft animals 
are often emploj^ed at work which is performed at a slow pace, and 
undoubtedly this has a bearing on the fact that they were able to per- 
form a large amount of work on a comparatively small ration, as the 
speed at which work is performed has a marked effect upon the food 
requirements. 

It will be seen that the average values, representing the amounts 
which were fed to American horses performing light, moderate, and 
severe work, differ somewhat from the commonly accepted feeding 
standards. The average values for horses at moderate work (express 
horses, cab horses, and farm horses), namely, 1.49 pounds digestible 
protein and 22,710 calories per 1,000 pounds live weight per day are 
considerably less than those called for by the Wolff'- Lehmann standard 
or by Grandeau's estimates. The agreement with Lavalard's figures 
is much closer, the protein being a little larger and the energy very 
nearly the same. The average values for horses at light work, namely, 
0.99 pound digestible protein and 11,890 calories per 1,000 pounds 
live weight, are also less than the values called for by the Wolff 
standard. The greatest difference, however, is observed in the values 
for horses with severe work, the American average being 1.12 pounds 



58 

digestible protein and 19,560 calories. It would be going too far to 
propose the adoption of these average values as standards La the place 
of those which have been commonly accepted. It is undoubtedly true 
that a feeding standard should be based on other data than the results 
of feeding experiments; however, in so far as the results represent 
the average practice of successful feeders they are worthy of con- 
sideration, and certainly emphasize the importance of undertaking 
investigations with a view to revising the standards. It should be 
remembered that the amounts of digestible nutrients in the rations 
actually fed were calculated with the aid of coefficients of digestibility 
obtained with horses and are, therefore, considerably lower than would 
be the case if average values obtained with ruminants had been used, 
a method of calculation which has been often followed in the past, but 
which does not seem desirable. 

METHOD OF CALCULATING RATIONS. 

The feeding value of any ration may be readily calculated and com- 
pared with the standards. Suppose a horse at moderate work and 
weighing 1,200 pounds is fed 11 pounds of oats and 10 pounds of tim- 
othy hay daily. The Wolff-Lehmann feeding standard for horses at 
moderate work calls for 1.8 pounds of protein and 20,700 calories per 
thousand pounds live weight. A horse weighing 1,200 pounds would 
therefore require 1.2 times as much, or 2.2 pounds protein and 32,000 
calories. Oats contain 9.39 pounds of digestible protein and 122,100. 
calories per hundred pounds. Eleven pounds would therefore furnish 
1. 03 poundsof protein (9.39x0.11 = 1. 03), and 13,430 calories (122,100X 
0.11 = 13,430). Timothy hay furnishes 1.25 pounds protein and 69,850 
calories per hundred pounds. Ten pounds would therefore furnish 
0.13 pounds protein (1.25X0.10 = 0.13) and 6,985 calories (69,850 X 
0.10=6,985). The sum of the nutrients furnished by 11 pounds of 
oats and 10 pounds of hay would therefore be 1.16 pounds protein and 
20,415 calories, or 1.04 pounds protein and 11,585 calories less than 
the standard calls for. This may be made up by adding more oats, 
hay, or other feeding stuff. The amount of oats required to furnish 
the necessary protein may be learned from the proportion 100 : 9.39 : : 
a: 1.04; or, in other words, by dividing 1.04 by .0939, which gives 
11.07. This quantity of oats would also furnish 13,517 calories, mak- 
ing the total protein of the ration 2.2 pounds and the total fuel value 
33,932 calories. The fuel value of the ration is in excess of the stand- 
ard, though the agreement is close enough for all practical purposes. 

As previously stated, it is not necessary that the amounts furnished 
in a ration shall exactly equal those called for by the standard, but 
rather that they approximate them, being greater rather than less 
through a long period. Rations which will furnish the amounts called 



59 

for by other feeding standards, or by the average values deduced from 
American rations, can, of course, be calculated in the same wa} r . As 
will be noted, the amount of feeding- stuffs necessary to provide nutri- 
ents equal to the amount called for b} T the Wolff standard for a horse 
at moderate work is large compared with the amounts ordinarily used 
in this country. (See discussion on pages 57, 58.) 

MUSCULAR WORK AND ITS EFFECT ON FOOD REQUIREMENTS. 

It is commonly said that the amount of food required by horses is 
proportionate to their weight; it being self-evident that a large horse 
would require more material than a small horse to build and repair 
the body and to carry on all the vital processes which constitute 
internal muscular work. Investigations have shown that the require- 
ments are more nearly proportional to the surface areas than to 
the body weight. Individual peculiarity is, of course, a factor which 
must be reckoned with, but the general statement is justified. The 
factor which has the greatest influence on the ration required is the 
amount of work performed, the ration increasing with the work. 
When horses which have been consuming a large ration and perform- 
ing work are compelled to rest, even for a few days, the ration should 
be diminished. Girard" found that the horses at the Meaux farm, 
doing hard work, were well nourished with a maximum ration of 16-20 
litems (15-19 quarts) oats, 6.5 kilograms (14 pounds) hay, and straw 
ad libitum. If the work stopped for three days and the ration was 
not diminished the horses were subject to paralysis, resulting in death. 
It was therefore recommended that on Sundays and holidays the ration 
consist of 6 liters (5.7 quarts) oats at noon, and 6 liters (5.7 quarts) of 
bran mash night and morning, with the same amount of hay and straw 
as before. The disease practically ceased after this practice was fol- 
lowed. The facts brought out above are quite generally recognized 
by large feeders and it is a common custom to diminish the rations on 
Sundays and holidays. 

In order to study the effects of work upon the amount of food 
required it is necessary to have some means of measuring and com- 
paring the different kinds of work done. 

MEASURING MUSCULAR WORK. 

It has been said already that the total work performed by a horse con- 
sists of internal and external muscular exertion. The former includes 
the force expended in the digesting of food, the beating of the heart, 
etc.; the latter that expended in moving the body, i. e., in the motion 
of forward progression, and in drawing or carrying a load. The latter 
factor is the one of most importance in considering the horse as a 



"Quoted by Lavalard, loo. cit. 



60 

beast of burden. The amount of such muscular work has been calcu- 
lated or measured in various ways. The methods of calculation are 
often complex and need not be discussed in detail. The amount of 
muscular work performed has usually been measured with some form 
of dynamometer. An extended series of experiments in which such an 
instrument was employed was conducted by Wolff/' The dynamometer 
which he used consisted of a revolving arm, turning on a base, which 
could be weighted so as to increase the friction and hence the amount 
of work required to turn it. There were special devices for recording 
the number of revolutions made. 

According to the classic experiments of James Watts, a horse can 
exert a power equal to -33,000 foot-pounds per minute, i. e. , in 1 minute 
can exert a force sufficient to raise 33,000 pounds 1 foot. This value 
has been termed 1 -horse power and has been accepted as a common 
unit for the measurement of force. In countries where the metric 
system is employed the more common unit is the kilogrammeter. 
This unit is equal to 7.2 foot-pounds. According to Watts's values, a 
horse working eight hours per day would perform work represented 
by 33,000 X 60 X 8 = 15,840,000 foot-pounds. Later estimates give 
lower values. It has been calculated that an average horse will pro- 
duce only about 22,000 foot-pounds per minute, which would be 
equivalent to 10,560,000 foot-pounds in a working day of eight hours. 

According to Wolff's experiments/' the day's work of a horse haul- 
ing a load eight hours on a level road amounted to 7,999,800 foot- 
pounds. Working the same length of time with a dynamometer the 
work amounted to 12,996,000 foot-pounds. As will be seen by the 
figures given below (p. 61), Lavalard obtained larger values in his 
calculations representing the amount of work performed daily by 
army horses. 

Mention should be made in this connection of some comparatively 
recent investigations carried on at the American experiment stations 
and other institutions. At the Utah, New York (Cornell), Michigan, 
and Missouri stations and at the University of Tennessee, Sanborn, 
Roberts, Fulton, Waters-, and Carson have studied the draft of differ- 
ent kinds of wagons under different road conditions and related topics, 
thus securing data for estimating the work done by horses under the 
conditions studied although the experiments were not made from this 
standpoint. A number of the experiment stations have also devoted 
considerable attention to testing the draft of plows and other agricul- 
tural implements. 

« For full accounts of the extended experiments of Wolff and his associates con- 
cerning the digestibility of different feeds, the production of muscular work, etc., 
see Landw. Vers. Stat., 20 (1876-77), p. 125; 21 (1877-78), p. 19. Landw. Jahrb., 
8 (1879), Sup. I; 13 (1884), p. 257; 16 (1887), Sup. Ill; 24 (1895), p. 125; also 
Grundlagen fur die rationelle Fattening des Pferdes, Berlin, 1885. 



61 • 

When a horse does road work it is evident that a large animal must 
expend more energy than a small one for the motion of forward pro- 
gression. Lavalard a made weighings in experiments with some 30,000 
horses belonging to the Paris cab companies and to the French army. 
He gives the average weight of horses of different kinds and of mules 
as follows: 

Table 6. — Average weight of horses. 



Weight, 



Kilograms, rounds. 



Heavy draft horses 

Light draft horses 

Fancy horses, reserve cavalry horses, and horses of the line 

Carriage horses and light cavalry horses 

Artillery and train horses 

Mules 



700-800 
500-600 
450-510 
880-400 
480-495 
430 



1,540-1,760 

1,100-1,320 

990-1,120 

835-880 

1,055-1,090 

945 



Taking into account the average amount of muscular work expressed 
in foot-pounds, the speed at which work is performed, the duration of 
the work, and the amount of work done at a walk and trotting, the 
total work done per day by army horses carrying a rider weighing 80 
kilograms (175 pounds) without a pack, and 120 kilograms (265 pounds) 
with a pack, and 90 kilograms (200 pounds) with accouterment for 
maneuvers, was calculated to be as follows: 

Table 7. — Work performed by army horses per day. 



Work per day. 



Weight 
carried. 



ORDINARY WORK (RIDER WITHOUT PACK). 



Walking. 

Trotting . 



Total 

ROAD WORK (RIDER WITH PACK). 



Pounds. 
176 
176 



Walking. 
Trotting. 



265 
265 



Total 



MILITARY MANEUVERS (RIDER WITH LIGHT 
PACK). 

Walking 

Trotting 



198 



Total 



Ve £?* Work per 
second. ! second - 



Feet. 
5.446 
9.022 



Foot-lbs. 

958.5 

1,587.9 



5. 446 
9.022 



1,443.2 
2, 390. 8 



5.446 
9. 022 



1,078.3 
1,786.4 



Duration 

of daily 

work. 



Hrs. Min. 
2 30 
1 30 



2 00 

3 00 



Amount 

of work at 

different 

gaits. 



Foot-lbs. 
8,626,500 
8, 574, 660 



17, 201, 160 



7, 793, 280 
12, 910, 320 



20, 703, 600 



7, 762, 760 
19, 293, 120 



27, 055, 880 



According to the calculation of an English army officer, Maj. F. 
Smith, 6 the mean ratio of carrying power to body weight is 1 : 5.757; 
that is to say, it takes, roughly speaking, 5.75 pounds of body weight 
to carry 1 pound on the back during severe exertion (racing excepted). 
The rule he gives for ascertaining the carrying power of a horse is to 



« Loc. cit. 



'^Queensland Agr. Jour., 4 (1899), p. 493. 



62 

divide his body weight by 5.757, and if intended for only moderate 
work to add to the product 28 pounds. It has to be noted that the 
observations were made upon military horses. It is doubtful if it 
would work out so accurately if applied to all horses used for the 
saddle. 

According to Lavalard rt the general opinion of cavalry ofhcers who 
have studied the question is that measuring the distance covered and 
the rate of speed is practically the only method for determining the 
work done by a saddle horse. He states that Marcy computes that 
the work accomplished in a given time is proportional to the square of 
the velocity, his coefficients being 3.42 for walking or pacing, 16 for 
trotting, 28.62 for cantering, and 68.39 for a full gallop. In other 
words, 4.5 times as much work is performed when trotting as when 
walking, 1.75 times as much when galloping as trotting, and 2.5 times 
as much at a full gallop as on an ordinary trot or canter. These val- 
ues are calculations rather than results obtained by experiments. 

According to'Poncelet 6 a horse carrying a weight of 120 kilograms 
(265 pounds) and traveling at a speed of 1.1 meters (3.6 feet) per second 
for 10 hours per day performs 1,752,000 kilogrammeters (34,211,100 
foot-pounds) of work. If the weight carried equals 80 kilograms (363 
pounds) and the speed is 2.2 meters (7.3 feet) per second, 4,435,000 
kilogrammeters (31,932,000 foot-pounds) of work will be performed 
in 7 hours. 

The Prussian cavalry horses, according to Ellenberger's b estimation, 
perform 1,500,000 kilogrammeters (10,800,000 foot-pounds) of useful 
work daily during the winter months. In the spring and summer 
months extra military duties increase this amount by 200,000 kilo- 
grammeters (1,440,000 foot-pounds) daily. Different values have been 
proposed by other investigators for saddle horses of various kinds. 

The speed at which the horse travels, the way in which the load is 
distributed, the external temperature, and other conditions evidently 
have an effect upon the work performed. 

According to Colin's 6 figures a horse walking 1 kilometer (0.63 
mile) in 10 minutes travels at a speed ol 1.66 meters (5.1 feet) per 
second. Trotting the same distance in 4.25 minutes the distance cov- 
ered is 3.92 meters (12.9 feet) per second. The average speed of a 
trotting horse was calculated to be 2.72 meters (8.9 feet) per second. 
These values refer especially to army horses. 

MUSCULAR WORK IN ITS RELATION TO THE RATION. 

Many experiments have been made, chiefly in Europe, to determine 
the exact relation between the amount of muscular work performed 
and the amount of the different nutrients required per day. It is the 
opinion of Wolff and Muntz, and others who have been especially 

"Experiment Station Record, 12 (1900-1901), p. 4. 
& Quoted by Lavalard, loc. cit. 



63 

active in the study of these problems, that provided a sufficient amount 
of protein is supplied for physiological maintenance, i. e. , to replace 
the wear and tear of body tissue, it is immaterial which of the three 
classes of nutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrates) furnishes the 
energy necessary for external muscular work performed by horses. 
The opinion of these investigators, which is quite generally accepted, 
has been summarized as follows by Warington: a 

The doctrine laid down by Wolff and his fellow workers at Hohenheim is a very 
simple one. He distinguishes between the food necessary to maintain the horse at 
rest without loss of weight and the extra food which must be given when work is 
performed, if the horse is again to be maintained, without its weight suffering loss. 
Between the weight of digestible matter in this extra food and the quantity of work 
accomplished there is a tolerably uniform relation. Wolff reckons that digested 
nutritive matter equivalent to 100 grams of starch is capable of producing 85,400 kilo- 
grammeters of work, or, expressed in English terms, 1 pound of starch digested by a 
horse will accomplish 1,232 foot-tons of work. This is 48 per cent of the full work 
which the starch could accomplish if burned outside the body. The result is the 
average of many experiments with different diets. 

The horse requires for its maintenance in weight while at rest a certain daily sup- 
ply of albuminoid substance [protein], which must never fall below a certain quan- 
tity; but the extra food given when work is to be performed may consist indifferently 
of any digestible combustible substance, whether albuminoids or not. The horse 
keeper is thus at liberty to select from a wide range of foods, and is not obliged to 
give a preference to those which are specially nitrogenous. It should, however, be 
borne in mind that what has just been said applies strictly only to horses which are 
already in good working condition. Horses which are low in condition, and must 
gain in weight of muscle before they are fit for hard work, must, of course, receive 
a more nitrogenous diet. 

A view very commonly held to-day is much the same and in accord 
with the above, viz, that provided an adequate quantity of protein 
and energy are available for maintenance, it is theoretically immaterial 
which class of nutrients furnish the energy for muscular work, 
although carbohydrates and f it are practically better suited for this 
purpose than protein, since any great excess of the latter is costly and 
may prove injurious to the health. In this case the term maintenance 
is not used in its strict physiological sense, but refers to a condition 
in which no appreciable amount of external muscular work is per- 
formed, and in which the internal muscular work is fairly uniform 
from day to day and the body weight practically constant. Most of 
the experiments reported on the effect of muscular work on the 
amount of nutrients required have had to do with external muscular 
work. A number of these investigations are referred to below. The 
effect of internal muscular work on food requirements has also been 
studied, especially in recent years. The experiments of this sort are 
referred to on page 68. 



« Jour. Bath and West of England Soc, 4. ser., 4 (1893-4), p. 188. 



64 

The experiments which have had to do with the rations best suited 
for horses employed at different kinds of work are obviously attempts 
to suit the food to the amount of work performed. 

Lavalard** calculated the amount of food required by army horses 
and mules to maintain weight on a peace and war footing as follows, 
the amount of work in the latter case being more than in the former. 

Table 8. — Calculated ration of French army horses and mules. 



Cavalry horses, reserve 

Cavalry horses, line 

Light cavalry horses 

Horses of artillery and train 
Mules 



Peace footing. 



Oats. 



Pounds. 
13 

11.5 
10.4 
12.3 
10.8 



Hay. 



Pounds. 
8.8 
7.7 
6.6 
8.5 
7.5 



War footing. 



Oats. 



Pounds. 
11.7 
13.5 
11.8 
14.2 



Hay. 



Pounds. 
8.8 
7.7 
6.6 
8.5 



Similar calculations, which have been made by others, have been 
summarized in Table 5, page 49. 

Grandeaivs experiments 6 have shown the marked effect of pace on 
the amount of labor performed and food required. He showed that a 
horse walking 7.8 kilometers (5.8 miles) per day neither gained nor 
lost in weight on a daily ration of 8,800 grams (40 pounds) of hay, 
while a ration of 10,886 grams (49.5 pounds) was not sufficient, pro- 
vided the horse trotted the same distance. When the horse walked 
tlie above distance and drew a load, the additional work being equiva- 
lent to 60,449 kilogrammeters (437,080 foot-pounds), a ration of 11,975 
grams (26.4 pounds) of hay was sufficient for maintenance. A ration 
of 14,787 grams (32.6 pounds), all a horse would consume, was not 
sufficient for maintenance when the same work was done trotting. 

According to Grandeau* a horse of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) 
weight by the motion of forward progression through a horizontal 
distance of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) at a speed of 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) 
per second loses 2.4 kilograms (5.3 pounds) in weight. A horse of the 
same weight covering a distance of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) at a speed 
of 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) per second and producing 190,000 kilograms 
of work loses about 3.8 kilograms (8.4 pounds) in weight. Some of 
the reasons given for the fact that rapid work is less economical than 
slow work are the increased action of the heart when the horse is trot- 
ting or galloping; the lifting of his own weight at each step only to 
allow it to fall again, thus developing heat; and the increase of body 
temperature with exertion and the loss of heat by the evaporation of water 
through the skin and lungs. Grandeau determined the average amount 
of water thus evaporated under different conditions of work and rest 
with four different rations, the distance covered in every case being the 



«Loc. cit. 



& See note, p. 66. 



65 

same, and found that it varied from 6.4 pounds with a horse at rest to 
20.6 pounds with a horse trotting and drawing- a load. (See also p. 38.) 
The heat required for the evaporation of this amount of water is 
quite large and necessitates the combustion of a considerable amount 
of nutritive material in the body, thus diminishing the quantity of 
material available for the production of work. 

EFFECT OF MUSCULAR WORK ON DIGESTIBILITY. 

Grandeau's and Leclerc's experiments also indicate that the kind of 
work performed has some effect on digestibility. If the total amount 
of organic matter digested while at rest be represented by the number 
1,000, the proportion digested during different kinds of work is shown,, 
the} 7 consider, by the following table: 

Relative proportion of total organic matter digested by horses at difft n nt conditions "/rest: 

and work. 

At rest 1, 00O 

Walking 1 , 032 

At work walking 1 , 007 

Trotting 976 

At work trotting 973 

Drawing a cab 959 

We see here that the moderate exercise is accompanied by a small but distinct 
improvement in the digestive functions, but that as soon as trotting commences 
digestion becomes less efficient than when at rest, while hard work while trotting 
still further diminishes the proportion of food digested. When we look into the 
details we find that the starch and sugar in the food are perfectly digested under all 
conditions of labor. The digestibility of the fat increases with exercise and does not 
diminish by labor below the point reached in repose. The digestibility of the 
albuminoids increases rather considerably with exercise and diminishes sharply 
when trotting commences. The principal matters usually grouped as soluble car- 
bohydrates, but which in this case are merely the more digestible constituents of 
the fiber, undergo the greatest amount of variation, their digestibility rising consid- 
erably with exercise and falling still more considerably with hard labor. In the- 
case of the more soluble portion of the fiber there is no rise in digestibility by exer- 
cise; the maximum rate of digestion is here obtained in repose, and diminishes con- 
siderably with increased bodily exertion. On the whole it appears that the constitu- 
ents of the food which are most affected by rapid exertion are those whos-e digestion 
takes place to a large extent in the lower part of the intestines; the motion of the- 
horse probably determines their more rapid progress through the system. 

From the results of earlier experiments with German farm horses, 
Wolff, Kellner, and associates" concluded that muscular work dimin- 
ished digestibility little, if at all. The coefficients of digestibility of 
the ration when work was performed were slightly lower, but the dif- 
ferences were so small that they are regarded as of no importance. 
Grandeau's and Leclerc's values are within 3 per cent of those found 
by Wolff, and it seems fair to say that from a practical standpoint the 
diminished digestibility due to muscular work is not very important. 



«Landw. Jahrb., 8 (1879), sup. I., p. 73. 
17399— No. 125—03 5 



66 

METABOLISM EXPERIMENTS AND THE DEDUCTIONS DRAWN 

FROM THEM. 

There are many other complicated questions in horse feeding which 
have received much attention from investigators. As in experiments 
with man, the factors which serve as indices of changes going on in 
the body have been studied in this connection, the principal ones 
being (1) the balance of income and outgo of nitrogen, or nitrogen and 
carbon (as in metabolism experiments and respiration experiments), 
which is quickly modified by variations in food, work, and other con- 
ditions; (2) the amount of carbon dioxicl produced per second as 
compared with the amount of oxygen consumed from the air, i. e., 
the respiratory quotient, which changes very quickly when any change 
takes place in the vital processes or in other forms of internal muscular 
work or when the amount of external muscular work varies. In deter- 
mining the income and outgo of nitrogen the food, urine, and feces 
must be measured, and the amount of nitrogen in each determined. 
No very complicated apparatus is required, and such experiments are 
comparatively numerous. Where the income and outgo of carbon is 
determined, as well as that of nitrogen, the experiments necessitate the 
use of a respiration apparatus. In such experiments it is possible to 
calculate the balance of income and outgo of matter. If at the same 
time devices are used which permit the measurement of heat, the bal- 
ance of income and outgo of energy may be studied also. The experi- 
ments of Boussingault, Wolff, Kellner, Hofmeister, Henneberg, and 
others, in which the balance of income and outgo of nitrogen were 
determined, have led to a number of interesting conclusions, some of 
which have already been referred to. Others follow. 

Boussingault, who was one of the first to study these problems, 
showed that no nitrogen was assimilated from the air, but that all 
which was used in the body came from nitrogen compounds con- 
sumed in the food — a very important deduction, since it showed 
that no nitrogen could be taken from the air, and, that nitrogenous food 
was essential. The investigations of Grandeau, Leclerc, and their 
associates form one of the most extended studies ever undertaken 
with farm animals. The work was carried on with a very large num- 
ber of horses belonging to one of the Paris cab companies, and extended 
over many years. There were seven series of experiments/' In the 
first, a mixed ration consisting of " maize cake," horse beans, maize, 
oats, hay, and straw was fed. The maize cake was made from starch 
factory and distillery waste, and contained a considerable portion of 
potato and barley as well as corn refuse. In the second series the 

« Ann. Sci. Agron., 1884, II, p. 325; 1885, I, p. 326; 1886, II, p. 351; 1888, II, p. 211; 
1892, 1, p. 1; 1893, I, p. 1; 1896, II, p. 113. 



67 

ration consisted of hay; in the third series, of oats and straw; in the 
fourth series, of ha} T and straw; in the fifth series, of maize and straw; 
in the sixth series, of horse beans and oat straw, and in the seventh 
series, of maize cake and oat straw. Analyses were made of the food, 
urine, and feces. 

The effect of the rations and their digestibility was studied while the 
horses were at rest, walking, trotting, at work while walking, and at 
work while trotting. The work consisted in turning the arm of a 
dynamometer a definite number of times. Experiments were also 
made in which the horses drew a vehicle. The effects of the rations 
under different conditions of rest and work on temperature and weight 
of the animals were studied. Many of Grandeau's and Leclerc's 
deductions have already been referred to, one of the most interesting 
being a demonstration of the high value of maize as a food for horses. 

MEASURING THE RESPIRATORY QUOTIENT AND THE DEDUCTIONS 

DRAWN FROM IT. 

Experiments in which the respiratory quotient was determined are 
perhaps less numerous than those mentioned above. A determination 
of the respiratory quotient necessitates the measurement and analysis 
of the air taken into the lungs and excreted from them. The experi- 
ments which have been made in Germany are ordinarily carried on 
with the aid of a mask which covers the head, or by the insertion of a 
silver tube in the trachea. In both cases the air is breathed in and 
out through tubes provided with suitable valves, so that the air enters 
through one tube and leaves through the other. The air is measured 
and the samples analyzed. The ratio of ox} T gen consumed to carbon 
dioxid expired in a unit of time is called the respiratory quotient. 

Zuntz" and Hagemann and their associates have carried on a very 
extended series of investigations with horses. In most of these cases 
the respiratory quotient was determined. In many other cases other 
determinations, including the balance of income and outgo of nitrogen 
and carbon, were also made. Work was performed with a sort of 
treadmill and the amount could be measured. The deductions drawn 
from these experiments are of great interest, and some of the principal 
ones follow. 

A horse weighing from 400 to 500 kilograms (880 to 1,100 pounds) 
excretes 26 to 40 liters (27 to 42 quarts) per minute from the lungs 
when no work is performed. If a horse takes exercise by walking 
the amount is increased to 80 to 90 liters (84 to 95 quarts) per minute. 
If 75 kilograms (542 foot-pounds) of work is done per second the 
respired air increases to 300 liters (317 quarts) per minute. If the 

«Landw. Jahrb., 27 (1898), Sup. Ill; see also Deut. Landw. Presse, 23 (1896), 
pp. 561, 571, 579. 



68 

work is still further increased the respired air amounts to 450 to 500 
liters (475 to 528 quarts) per minute — in other words, 14 to 15 times what 
it was when no work was performed. However, in these different 
cases the ratio of carbon dioxid to oxygen has been found to vary 
very little. 

PROPORTION OF ENERGY OF FOOD EXPENDED FOR INTERNAL 
AND EXTERNAL MUSCULAR WORK. 

A horse converts 38.3 per cent of the energy of food into mechanical 
work. On account of the energy required for respiration, the beating 
■of the heart, etc., only about 34 per cent of the energy of the food is 
actually available for external muscular work. The best record for a 
steam engine is said to be an efficiency per indicated horsepower of 
■22. T per cent on the basis of total heat supply. Per delivered horse- 
power the amount is probably K> per cent less. The animal is there- 
fore seen to be a much more efficient machine than the engine. 

Tests were made with a horse walking on a level, walking up an 
incline, and hauling a load on a level, and it was found that in the last 
case the energy of the food was not quite so economically used as in 
the first case. On the basis of his experiments, Zuntz computes that a 
horse weighing 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) and performing no work 
requires 3,201 grams (7.1 pounds) of total nutrients containing 1,382 
grams (3 pounds) of crude fiber. By total nutrients is meant the sum 
•of the protein, carbohydrates, and fat multiplied by 2.4/' Of this quan- 
tity of total nutrients not less than 2,100 grams (4.6 pounds) is required 
for the internal muscular work expended in digesting and assimilating 
the food, and 1,100 grams (2.4 pounds) for other purposes (largely 
.some form of internal muscular work). Zuntz found that the amount 
of food required was affected by anything that disturbed the horse. 
In one experiment a horse confined in a stable was much disturbed by 
flies and consequently restless. The increased work in fighting the 
Hies caused an increase of 10 per cent of the carbon dioxid excreted. 
This means that more food material was burned in the body than was 
the case when the horse was quiet, for the combustion of food in the 
bod}', it will be remembered, furnishes the carbon dioxid excreted in 
the breath. 

In addition to other matters, Zuntz noted that the effect of bod}' 
conformation had a marked effect on the economical production of 
work. He found that defects in external conformation and move- 
ments necessitate an increased amount of muscular exertion. This 
has an important bearing upon the market value of the horses. Too 

"Zuntz uses this factor instead of 2.25, the factor commonly used hy American 
investigators. 



69 

low a stall temperature also increases the amount of material required 
for maintenance. In many cases observed, this increase was hardly 
covered by 2 pounds of oats daily. 

ENERGY REQUIRED TO CHEW AND DIGEST FOOD. 

One of the most interesting of the lines of investigations followed 
by Zuntz was the determination of the energ}" required to chew and 
digest different foods. The experiments were complicated and too 
extended to describe here except in very general terms. As has been 
said, the respiratory quotient is a very delicate index of the changes 
which take place in the bod}-, and it was found that the internal 
muscular work expended in chewing, swallowing, and digesting food 
could be determined by the variations in the respiratory quotient and 
the amount of carbon dioxid excreted when this kind of work was per- 
formed, as compared with the amount when the animal rested. Different 
feeding stuffs modified the respiratory quotient in different ways, and 
it was evident that some required more labor for digestion and assimi- 
lation than others. This is a matter of considerable importance, and it 
is evident that if two feeding stuffs of practically the same composition 
are digested with equal thoroughness but one requires for digestion 
and assimilation the expenditure of more internal muscular work than 
the other, it is really less valuable; in other words, the two ma} r con- 
tain the same amount of digestible nutrients, but one causes the 
body more labor to assimilate than the other. On the basis of his 
average figures of composition and digestibility, 2.2 pounds of hay (1 
kilogram) furnishes 0.862 pound of total nutrients, and 2.2 pounds 
{1 kilogram) of oats 1.353 pounds of nutrients. As regards nutri- 
tive value, hay and oats are therefore commonly said to be to each 
other as 400 : 600. As shown by Zuntz's experiments, 0.265 pound (115 
grams), or 20 per cent of the total nutritive material present in 2.2 
pounds (1 kilogram), of oats is expended in the labor of chewing and 
digesting them. In the case of 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) of hay, 0.418 
pound (205 grams), or 49 per cent of the total nutritive material, is 
required for the same purpose. Therefore hay and oats stand really in 
the proportion of 203 : 480. In other words, oats surpass ha}>- in feed- 
ing value two and one-half times instead of one-half times, as they are 
ordinarily assumed to do. 

"TRUE NUTRITIVE VALUE" OF FEEDING STUFFS. 

Taking into account the internal muscular work required to chew 
and digest foods and deducting this from the digestible nutrients pres- 
ent in the foods, Zuntz calculated what we may call the "'true nutri- 
tive value " of a number of feeding stuffs with special reference to 
horses. The results are shown in the following- table: 



70 



Table 9. — Calculated "true nutritive value" of 1 pound of different feeding stuffs. 



Feeding stuffs. 



Meadow hay (average qual 
ity) 

Alfalfa hay cut at begin- 
ning of bloom 

Red clover hay 

Winter wheat straw 

Oats (medium quality) 

Maize 

Field beans 

Peas 

Air-dry disembittered lu- 
pines 

Linseed cake 

Potatoes 

Carrots 







Total di- 


Dry mat- 


Crude 


gestible 


ter. 


fiber. 


nutri- 
ents. a 


Per cent. 


Pound. 


Pound. 


85 


0.260 


0.391 


84 


.266 


.453 


84 


.302 


.407 


86 


.420 


.181 


87 


.103 


.615 


87 


.017 


.785 


86 


.069 


.720 


86 


.059 


.687 


86 


.157 


.645 


88 


.094 


.690 


25 


.010 


.226 


15 


.016 


.113 



Labor expended in 
chewing and di- 
gestion. 



In 
terms of 
energy. 



In terms 

of nutri- 

ents.a 



Caloric*. Pound 



376 

394 
429 
535 
224 

148 
200 
183 

294 

225 

49 

37 



0. 209 

.219 
.239 
.297 
.124 
.082 
.111 
.102 

.163 
.125 
.027 
.021 



True nutritive 
value. 



In 
terms of 
energy. 



Calorics. 

328 

422 
303 
-209 
883 
1,265 
1,096 
1,054 

867 

1,018 

358 

166 



In terms 
of nutri- 
ents .a 



Pound. 



.234 
.168 
-.116 
.491 
.703 
.609 
.586 

.482 
.565 
.199 
.092 



"Protein, plus carbohydrates, plus crude fiber, plus fat multiplied by 2.4. 

As will be seen, the nutritive value of straw is negative in the above 
table. The authors call attention to the investigations which showed 
that so long as heat alone is considered, the digestible nutrients in 
straw should be given their full value as shown by the heat of combus- 
tion. Provided the labor of digesting a mixed ration does not exceed 
2,100 grams (4.63 pounds, or 8,316 calories), the digestible nutrients in 
straw have a positive value. Provided the labor of digestion is greater 
than this an excess of straw would only increase the internal muscular 
work, so that approximately 116 grams (0.256 pound) of nutrients per 
kilogram is of no value for the body. 

From the table the amount of any food or combination of foods 
required for maintenance ma}^ be calculated, according to the authors, 
as follows: When a horse weighing 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) is fed 
hay alone, 8.2 kilograms (18.04 pounds) would be necessary, since, as 
previously stated, 3,200 grams (7.05 pounds) of nutrients are required 
for maintenance. As shown by the table, a kilogram of hay contains 
391 grams (0.86 pound) total nutrients. 

If the ration consists of 3 kilograms (Q.Q pounds) of hay and 1 kilo- 
gram (2.2 pounds) of straw and it is desired to make up the balance 
with potatoes, the amount necessary may be calculated as follows: 





Grams. 


Pounds. 




1,173 
181 


2.586 


One kilogram (2.2 pounds) of straw furnishes total nutrients amounting to 


.399 




1,354 


2.984 







Since the horse requires for maintenance 3,200 grams (7.053 pounds) 
nutrients, there remain 1,846 grams (4.07 pounds) total nutrients to be 
supplied by potatoes. This, divided by 226, the total nutrients in a 
kilogram (2.2 pounds) of potatoes, gives 8.2 kilograms (18.04 pounds) 
as the amount which must be added to the ration. 



71 



FIXING RATIONS ON THE BASIS OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL 

MUSCULAR WORK. 

Zuntz believed that a ration suited to the performance of any kind 
of work can be calculated on the basis of the nutritive material and 
energy required for maintenance plus that needed for the work per- 
formed. The calculations are simplified by using- the figures for "true 
nutritive value " given in the table above. On the basis of his experi- 
ments and observations he has calculated that a horse weighing 500 
kilograms (1,100 pounds) requires for maintenance 3,201 grams (7.056 
pounds) of true available nutrients. The amounts of true available 
nutrients and the energy required for the performance of work of dif- 
ferent kinds and under different conditions b} T a horse weighing 500 
kilograms (1,100 pounds), with a harness weighing 20 kilograms (44 
pounds) are shown in Table 10. The value of total nutrients repre- 
sents the protein + the carbohydrates + the fat X 2.4. Fat is multi- 
plied by 2.4, since, as stated on another page (68), it yields, according 
to Zuntz, that much more heat per gram than protein or carbohydrates 
when burned in the body. 

Table 10. — Available nutrients and energy needed for different kinds of work. 



Total nutrients 
required. 



Energy 
required. 



Forward progression per kilometer (3.2S1 feet) on level at speed of 

60.7 meters (218.8 feet) per minute 

Forward progression per kilometer (3,281 feet) on level at speed of 90 

meters (295.4 feet) per minute 

Forward progression per kilometer (3,281 feet) on level at speed of 

176-205 meters (577.4 feet-672.6 feet) per minute 

Climbing a gentle incline, raising body 100 meters (3,281 feet) 

Climbing a steep incline, raising body 100 meters (3,281 feet) 

Descending an incline, lowering body 100 meters (3,281 feet) on road 

with 5 per cent dip saves a 

Drawing a load on level 268 (work equivalent to plowing one hour, 

i.e., drawing a plow weighing 67 kilograms (147.4 pounds) a distance 

of 4 kilometers (13,124 feet): 

Not including forward progression 

Including forward progression 

Raising a load weighing 75 kilograms (165 pounds) 0.2 kilometer 
(656.2 feet) up incline of 10 per cent: 

A. For the 0.2 kilometer (656.2 feet) of forward motion 

B. For raising the body and harness 20 meters (656.2 feet) 

C. For 1,500 kilogramnieters (10,800 foot-pounds) mechanical work 

Total 

Trotting on level 1 kilometer (3,281 feet) with load of 75 kilograms 
(165 pounds): 

A. For forward motion, 1 kilometer (3,281 feet) 

B. For 75,000 kilogrammeters (540,000 foot-pounds) calculated me- 
chanical work 

Total 

Progression on level 1 kilometer (3,281 feet) with 100 kilograms (220 
pounds) load: 

A. At speed of 5.4 kilometers (17,717.4 feet) per hour 

B. At speed of 10.5-12.6 kilometers (34,451 feet-41,341 feet) trotting 

Climbing 1 kilometer (3,281 feet) on an incline of 10 per cent with 100 
kilograms (220 pounds) load at speed of 5.4 kilometers (17,717 feet) 
per hour: 

A. For forward progression 

B. For 60,000 kilogrammeters (432,000 foot-pounds) mechanical 
work (climbing ) 

Total 



Grams. 
37.6 

47.7 

71.5 
90.0 
91.7 



508. 9 
659. 3 



7.52 
18.33 
39.15 



65.0 



71.5 
142. 4 



213.9 



59.2 
91.0 



59.2 
103.8 



Pounds. 

0.083 

.105 

.158 
.198 
. 202 



1.122 
1.454 



Calories. 

149 

189 

283 
356 
363 



2, 015 
2,611 



.017 
.040 
. 086 



29.8 
72.6 
155.0 



.158 
.314 



.131 
.201 



283.0 
563.9 

846.9 



234.5 
360.4 



,130 
.229 



234.5 
411.0 



a As compared with forward progression. 



72 

As will be seen, the amount of total nutrients required increases with 
the increased speed; furthermore, a greater amount is required in 
climbing an incline than for forward progression on a level. In 
descending a gentle incline a much smaller amount of nutrients is 
required than in climbing the same incline, and as compared with the 
motion of forward progression there is also a .saving in the amount of 
nutrients needed. In general, it was found that the energy expended 
was less than in traveling on a level, provided the incline was less than 
5° 45'. At this point it was equal to the amount expended in travel- 
ing on a level. If the incline was greater, energy was required to 
keep the body from descending too rapidly and the expenditure was 
greater than on a level. The different values given in the above table 
for the nutrients required for the performance of different kinds of 
work are obtained by taking the sum of the requirements for the dif- 
ferent components into which the work can be resolved; thus, in trot- 
ting 1 kilometer (3,281 feet) with a load of 75 kilograms (165 pounds) 
the total work consists in that expended for forward progression and 
for moving the load over the distance covered. 

An example of the way in which the value of a ration was calculated 
by Zuntz follows: 

If a farm horse weighing 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) walks eight 
hours drawing a load at a speed of 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) per hour, 
the work performed and the total available nutrients required would 
be as follows: 

Table 11. — Total nutrients required fur work. 



Total nutrients. 



32 kilometers (20 miles) forward progression 

2,144,000 kilogrammeters (15,436,800 foot-pounds) mechanical work 
Maintenance (exclusive of labor of digestion) 

Total 



Grama. 
1,203 
4,071 
1,100 



6,374 



Pounds. 
2.654 
8. 975 
2.425 



14.054 



The ration selected consisted of 3 kilograms {<d.<o pounds) hay, 1.5 
kilograms (3.3 pounds) straw, 2 kilograms (4.1 pounds) field beans, and 
a sufficient amount of oats to bring the total nutrients of the ration up 
to the required amount. The nutrients furnished by the hay, straw, 
and field beans would be as follows: 

Table 12. — Total nutrients furnished by tentative ration. 



Total nutrients. 



3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) of hay, requiring per kilogram (2.2 pounds) for diges- 
tion 627 grams (1.38 pounds) 

1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds of straw, requiring per kilogram (2.2 pounds) for diges- 
tion 445 grams (0.98 pound) 

2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of beans, requiring per kilogram (2.2 pounds) for diges- 
tion 222 grams (4.9 pounds) 

Total, 1,294 grams (2.85 pounds) 



Grams. 
+546 
-174 

+1, 218 



+1, 590 



Pounds, 

+ 1.204 
- .384 
+2.685 



+ 3.505 



73 

Subtracting 1,590 grams (3.505 pounds) from 6,374 grams (14.054 
pounds) gives 4,784 grams (10.549 pounds), the total available nutri- 
ents which must be supplied by the oats. Dividing this sum by 491, 
the total available nutrients in a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of oats, gives 
9.74 kilograms (21.43 pounds) as the amount required. This quantity 
of oats would require the expenditure of 1,208 grams (2.660 pounds) 
nutrients for the labor of digestion (9.74 kilograms X 0.124= 1.208 
kilograms) (2.660 pounds). The total expenditure of nutrients which 
the ration necessitates for the labor of digestion would therefore be 
2,502 grams (5.514 pounds) (1,294 grams+1,208 grams = 2,5<>2 grams) 
(2.854 pounds+2.660 pounds = 5. 514 pounds). This exceeds by some 
400 grams (0.882 pound), the value which is thought most desirable 
for the normal maintenance ration, i. e., 2,100 grams (4.630 pounds). 
The expenditure of this amount of nutrients for the work of digestion 
is thought desirable, because it would liberate the amount of heat which. 
Zuntz calculates is required for maintaining the body temperature. 

The ration may be adjusted on a more reasonable basis b}^ diminish- 
ing the straw to 0.3 kilogram (0.66 pound) and the oats to 9.46 kilo- 
grams (20.812 pounds). The total quantity would be the same as 
before, and the amount required for the labor of digestion would be 
practically equal to that which is considered most desirable. The 
ration as adjusted would be as follows: 



Table 13. — Calculated ration for farm horse of, work. 



Ration. 


Requires for the 
labor of digestion. 


Yields total nutri- 
ent. 




Grams. 


Pounds. 


Grains. 


Pounds. 




627 

222 

89 

1,173 


1.382 
.489 
.196 

2.586 


546 

1,218 

-35 

4, 645 


1.204 




2.685 




.077 




10.241 






Total 


2, HI 


4. 653 


6. 374 


14.207 







This ration is, according to Zuntz, more satisfactory on economic 
grounds, since it does not contain an excess of material which must be 
wastefully assimilated. The fact is also pointed out that it might not 
prove satisfactory otherwise, since it contains a small amount of 
coarse fodder. The other examples given by Zuntz are more com- 
plicated. 

STJMMAKY. 

Some of the principal deductions noted in this bulletin follow: 
Horses, like other animals, require a definite amount of nutrients 
and energy per 1,000 pounds live weight for maintenance, and an 
extra amount, chietly energ} T -yielding nutrients, for muscular work, 
the amount being proportional to the character and amount of work 
performed. 

17399— No. 125—03 6 



74 

The amount of nutrients required increases with the amount of work 
done and with increased speed. More energy is required for climb- 
ing an incline than for traveling on a level. In descending an incline 
of less than 5° 45' less energy is required than in traveling on a level. 
If the incline is greater than 5° 45', more energy is expended (to pre- 
vent too rapid descent) than in walking on a level. 

The ration should consist of concentrated and coarse feeds. The ratio 
by weight of coarse fodder or bulky feed to concentrated feed in the 
ordinary ration has been found to be about 1:1. Crude liber may 
perhaps be f airl} r considered as the characteristic constituent of coarse 
fodder. The ratio of crude fiber to protein in the average of a large 
number of American rations has been found to be about 2:1. 

Theoretically at least any sufficient and rational mixture of whole-' 
some grains, by-products, roots, and forage crops, green and cured, 
may be used to make up a ration, though there is a very general prej- 
udice in favor of oats and hay, corn and hay or corn fodder, and bar- 
ley and hay (frequently that made from cereal grains), the first-named 
ration being perhaps that most commonly regarded as satisfactory for 
horses. A corn ration is very commonly fed in the middle West and 
Southern United States — that is, in the corn-producing belt. The 
barley ration is quite characteristic of the Pacific coast region. In 
the semiarid regions of the United States Kafir corn and alfalfa have 
proved to be of great value, owing to their drought- resisting qualities. 
Both crops have been found useful for horse feeding. Of the two 
alfalfa has been used much more commonly, and has given very satis- 
factory results. 

Investigations have shown that it is often best to modify a ration, for 
instance, by substituting corn wholly or in part for oats, so that the 
horses remain in good condition, while at the same time the cost of the 
ration is diminished. Where large numbers of horses are fed this is 
often a matter of considerable importance. 

Horses require a considerable amount of water daily, the quantit}- 
varying with different seasons of the year, the amount of work per- 
formed, etc. The time of watering, whether before or after feeding, 
is a matter of little importance, and, generally speaking, may be regu- 
lated to suit the convenience of the feeder. Horses become used to 
either method of watering, and irregularity should be avoided, as 
sudden changes are apt to prove disturbing. 

Judging by the average results, representing the practice of a large 
number of successful American feeders, and also the results of many 
tests at the experiment stations in different parts of the United States, 
horses with light work consume on an average a ration furnishing per 
day 0.99 pound of digestible protein and 14,890 calories of energy 
per 1,000 pounds live weight. Similar values for horses at moderate 
work are 1.49 pounds digestible protein and 22,710 calories, and for 



75 

horses at severe work 1.12 pounds digestible protein and 19,560 calo- 
ries. It is believed that these last values do not come as near repre- 
senting a general average as the others, since they are based on a 
comparatively limited amount of data, and possibly the pace at which 
the work was performed may be responsible in a measure for the 
comparatively small amounts of nutrients and energy. Generally 
speaking, all these average values are less than those called for by the 
commonly accepted German feeding standards for horses perform- 
ing the same amounts of work, } r et from what is known regarding the 
American horses it seems fair to say that they were well fed. 

Additional experiments are much needed which will result in a series 
of standards suited to American conditions. 

Generally speaking, horses digest their feed, and especially the 
nitrogen-free extract and crude liber in it, less thoroughly than 
ruminants. 

The general deductions which have been drawn for horses apply 
with equal force to other animals of the same group, such as asses 
and mules. 

O 






& 



LB Mr '07 






